Dalton Savidge, Snyder County resident, local electric choice expert, on the impending PPL supply rate increase, how to avoid the rate increase and how to shop around. We’ll explain your electric bill (again) and talk about the more than 100 choices you have for your electricity supplier. You could pay hundreds of dollars too much if you don’t shop around. Here is Dalton's info sheet:
UNDERSTANDING YOUR PPL ELECTRIC BILL AND HOW TO CHANGE YOUR SHOPPING RATE
The info below is referring to the bill for your home(Residential Service abbreviated--RS). The same concept applies to commercial service, but the kilowatt hour costs are different.
Your electric bill consists of 2 parts. The DELIVERY portion which is the poles, wires, linemen, phone people. etc. The SUPPLY portion is the power plants and the large steel towers.
In PA you can shop the SUPPLY portion of your bill.
If you get the SUPPLY portion of your electricity from PPL your RS cost is increasing from the current REGULAR price of $.089(current rate until 5/31) to $.124 cents per Kilowatt hour(Kwh) on June 1.
PPL has agreements with 9 different Energy suppliers for a 7% discount off the PPL Regular rate. This is called a STANDARD RATE. The time frame for the STANDARD rate is 1 year and there is NO cancellation fee. All 9 companies offer the same rate so it does not matter which one your are assigned or choose.
The current STANDARD rate is $.083($.089 minus 7%). After 5/31 the standard rate will be $.115($.124 minus 7%).
You can call PPL(1-800-342-5775) or you can go online if you have a PPL electric account. If you do not have a PPL on line account you can go to-- pplelectricutilities.com --and set up an account. This should be done before 6/1 to lock in the $.083 STANDARD rate for 1 year. If you call I suggest you call around 8:01 AM or you may be waiting for a long time.
There is a web site --
papowerswitch.com --that lists 44 companies and 106 different choices. Currently there are NO CHOICES even close to the PPL STANDARD rate of $.083.
You can figure out how much the rate change will cost you by taking your yearly KWH usage(on the back of your PPL bill, upper left corner, second line down), and moving a decimal point(not shown on bill) 2 spaces to the left. For example, if you use 10,000 kwh per year and move the decimal point you will get 100. For each additional penny($.01)your rate increases your yearly cost will increase by $100 per year.
If you have electric heat, central air conditioning, a pool, electric water heater, and dehumidifier you use approximately 25,000 kwh per year. If your supplier is PPL and you do not shop, your KWH rate will go from $.089 to $.124, your increase will be $.035, your total yearly increase will be $825.
Prepared 5/20/22
