Many Pennsylvanians who switched their power supplier to try to save money ended up paying more than if they’d done nothing at all.

Over the last decade, people who switched electric suppliers ended up paying a combined $3 billion more on their energy bills, industry and consumer advocates said at a joint legislative hearing on energy affordability held last month.

Only about 20% of residential electric customers use the option to switch their energy supplier.

Under the state’s PA Power Switch program, utilities publish a price to compare and customers can use a state website to select alternate suppliers. Those alternate suppliers offer a variety of different term lengths and variable rates. Some of those competing suppliers offer introductory prices with the prices increasing after the introductory period.

For instance, PPL’s price to compare is 12.95 cents per kilowatt-hour. The state’s PA Power Switch website shows the lowest competing offers are from two companies offering one-month introductory rates of 9.8 cents and 9.9 cents per kwh.

“Pennsylvania regulations require suppliers to clearly disclose key pricing details to consumers at the time of enrollment,” Nils Hagen-Frederiksen, a spokesman for the Public Utility Commission, said in an email to CapitolWire/State Affairs on Friday. Those disclosures include the duration of the introductory rate period and the price for the first billing period after the introductory period expires, he said.

But in many cases, the customers miss those notices and do not realize they’ve been moved into variable rate plans where the cost increases based on market conditions, advocates said.

“Many residential customers sign up for a fixed price contract for a brief period due to attractive temporary prices,” Consumer Advocate Daryl Lawrence said at the joint hearing of the House Energy and Consumer Protection, Technology and Utilities committees. “When the period expires, they may, without realizing it, be rolled over to a variable price contract whose price is much higher than their fixed price contract. Customers should not be penalized for shopping for their generation supply, and the penalties are harsh.”

Lawrence said the Legislature should revamp the electric choice law so that the customer is automatically returned to their basic utility provider when the term they signed up for expires.

“This simple change in the law will save Pennsylvania consumers enormous sums of money,” Lawrence said.

Elizabeth Marks, executive director of the Pennsylvania Utility Law Project, said, in practice, electric shopping just doesn’t work for many people.

“There is a lot of greenwashing going on and confusing offers in the competitive market that must be shifted. I’ll also note, and I could tell you stories all day long about the clients we serve each and every day that are paying higher prices that did not make an affirmative choice,” Marks said at the hearing. “It was not an affirmative choice of the 90-year-old veteran on hospice that we helped get out of a product that he switched from his hospice bed that was close to three times the default service rate. In our estimation, it is time to evaluate Pennsylvania’s retail competitive markets.”

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have called for changes.

Rep. Brian Munroe, D-Bucks, said Friday that he has introduced legislation, House Bill 2183, to codify the PUC’s notice requirements.

“Having a fixed-rate energy bill relieves a lot of stress on working families because it makes a household’s monthly energy costs predictable,” Munroe said. “With the cost of energy continuing to rise across Pennsylvania, it is imperative that families know what to expect to pay at the end of every month.”

Last year, Rep. Keith Greiner, R-Lancaster, announced last year that he intends to introduce legislation requiring utilities to prominently display the expiration date of the customer’s electric rate.

“Keeping track of contract dates can be difficult. Failure to remember that the end of a contract is looming can result in rate shock for our consumers when the price may jump significantly after the expiration of the contract,” he said in a memo seeking support for the bill. “This legislation will require that the contract start and end dates be included with or printed on the front of the bill in clear and conspicuous language. It will also require notification in the same clear and conspicuous language if the consumer is receiving default supply service.”

Customers who switched electric suppliers

– Duquesne Light — 117,587

– MetEd — 112,580

– PECO Energy — 316,957

– Penelec — 87,693

– Penn Power — 28,567

– PPL — 482,111

– West Penn Power — 114,541