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Progressive groups unveiled a new campaign, dubbed Building a Brighter PA, Tuesday to call for protections to lower consumer electric bills while generating more power from renewable energy sources.
The effort comes as state officials debate what sort of controls should be implemented to cushion residential customers from having to shoulder higher bills as data centers have caused a spike in demand for power.
The emergence of more than 60 data center projects around Pennsylvania led to grassroots resistance and spurred calls for a moratorium on data centers while state and local officials respond. The package of bills passed with the state budget earlier this month did not include any kind of statewide moratorium. Instead, the update to the Fiscal Code added annual reporting requirements for large data centers to disclose their power and water consumption.
"Electric generation rates have also increased between 18%-52%, depending on where you live in the state," said Elizabeth Marx, executive director of the Public Utility Law Project. "The combined impact is severe, with roughly 1 in 4 Pennsylvania families reporting difficulty paying their energy costs, and 1 in 20 carrying substantial utility debt with average balances exceeding $1,200, much higher than the national average."
More than 387,000 households had their electricity or gas involuntarily shut off in 2025 and such involuntary shutoffs are up 27% since 2022.
"Behind these numbers, working moms are forced to choose between turning the lights on and feeding their family. We've got seniors who are keeping their homes at dangerous temperatures to meet rising energy costs on a fixed income," Marx said. "The consequences are rippling through our entire community. They're triggering housing insecurity, family separation, negative health consequences, higher health costs, the list of cascading consequences is seemingly endless."
The advocates say state officials should work to remove barriers impeding the use of low-cost clean energy, take steps to modernize the grid and improve efficiency, while holding utilities accountable and requiring data center operators to bring their own renewable energy.
They are also calling for increased investment in renewable energy as a means of creating jobs.
Shapiro has proposed boosting the state's alternative energy portfolio until the state gets at least 35% of its power from renewable sources.
Efforts to boost renewable energy ran into a setback in 2025 when Senate Republicans successfully lobbied to get Pennsylvania to abandon its proposed entry into a Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which taxes polluters and uses the proceeds to boost cleaner energy sources.
Senate President Pro Tem Kim Ward, R-Westmoreland, has argued that Pennsylvania electric bills have been higher than necessary because electric customers here have had to help pay for higher costs associated with renewable energy mandates in neighboring states.