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The default price charged by electric utilities in Pennsylvania jumped almost 12% for the six-month period beginning in June, according to a new analysis by the state Independent Fiscal Office.
It's just the latest sign of the financial strain faced by ratepayers due to electric demand fueled by the growth of data centers needed for artificial intelligence infrastructure, the IFO report said.
Over the last four years, when all costs and taxes are included, the average monthly household electric bill has increased 34.9% more than double the rate of inflation over the same period, the IFO said in its review. On average, residential electric bills are costing $66 a month more than they did in 2022.
Though, another factor outside the control of the price-to-compare are distribution costs passed along by utilities to ratepayers. Since 2023, distribution charges have jumped, on average, $26 a month.
Residential customers in Pennsylvania are currently experiencing higher electric rates than those in all but 12 states -- Alaska, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Wisconsin.
Residential customers in Idaho are seeing the cheapest electric rates in the country, with their average monthly bills costing, on average, $36 a month less than those in Pennsylvania.
Under Pennsylvania's competitive electricity marketplace, utilities charge a default "price to compare" that customers use to determine whether alternative suppliers are offering more affordable plans. It's the third consecutive period with a double-digit jump in the average default price. The deregulated electric marketplace is intended to help customers find less expensive electric suppliers, but critics say too often switching suppliers does not result in long-term savings. Only about 20% of residential electric customers use the option to switch their energy supplier. And when they do, they regularly get burned when their new suppliers raise their rates after an introductory period.
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 in January.
The IFO uses the published default rates and factors in the number of customers served by each electric utility to calculate a weighted average.
The IFO calculates that the current weighted average default rate is now 12.61 cents per kilowatt hour, an 11.9% increase from the prior year. The price to compare includes the generation and transmission portions of the customer's electric bills, roughly 57% of the total electric bill. The other 43% includes distribution costs and other charges and fees.
The spike in electric prices contributed to a 27% increase in involuntary electric and gas shutoffs since 2022, advocates told reporters on a press call last week. And that data probably does not reflect the total because it does not include 2026 shutoffs.
Weighted average default electric price
– December 2024-May 2025: 10.11 cents per kilowatt hour
– June 2025-November 2025: 11.27 cents per kilowatt hour
– December 2025-May 2026: 11.92 cents per kilowatt hour
– June 2026-November 2026: 12.61 cents per kilowatt hour