The days are ticking away to the point at which Pennsylvania consumers will pay significantly more, possibly as much as another $200 per year, for the electricity and natural gas used in their homes and businesses.
SANATOGA – The back-to-school countdown officially ends today (Monday, Aug. 30, 2010), as doors to school buildings in the Pottsgrove, Spring-Ford and Pottstown districts open to welcome returning students. So for the numerologists among us, here’s a new countdown to keep you occupied. Call it “The Power Scream.”
- Only 24 days remain until Fall (Sept. 22), and the end of what many experts contend is the hottest summer on record.
- Just 112 days are left until Winter (Dec. 21) and, if the surprises of 2009-2010 were any indication, another season of chances for freak cold snaps and record-breaking snow falls.
- And beyond that, it’s only 123 days (Jan. 1, 2011) to the start of new electric and natural gas utility rates caused by energy deregulation in Pennsylvania.
That’s when you’ll see the power bill, and start screaming.
The onset of the New Year will complete more than 10 years of energy-rate caps in the state. Prices for the delivery of electricity and natural gas are expected to rise, initially by about 10 percent and potentially by up to 30 percent, at every utility that serves Lower Pottsgrove and Limerick (PA) townships and the borough of Pottstown.
Rate caps were intended to give Pennsylvanians level energy prices while utilities paid off their costs of energy generation. A local example is found in Limerick, where Exelon Corp. has spent a portion of the decade paring down debt for its investment in the Limerick Generating Station.
The legislative trade-off, however, is close at hand. With rate caps expiring, utilities will be free to compete and charge market prices to generate or buy and distribute power to their customers.
PECO Energy and Metropolitan Edison, along with the Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission (PUC), have warned since early this year that residential consumers’ energy costs on average could rise somewhere between $8 and $24 per month. Commercial users will be similarly hit.
Part of the 1997 legislation that artificially capped rates, however, also gave power consumers the ability to shop around for and switch to lower cost utility providers. Two licensed alternatives have emerged: The Pennsylvania Energy Cooperative and Commerce Energy. The return of cooler, then colder, weather may prompt increased consumer interest in both.
For home owners and renters, each offers a variety of introductory offers and packages that may appeal to those interested in immediate savings, stable costs over time, or renewable energy generation from sources like solar or wind power. The PUC offers a guide to choosing a new power supplier, here.
Commercial users generally have the same choices … but not always.
Lower Pottsgrove Township learned that lesson back in June (2010). The Board of Commissioners planned to meet with and get cost quotes from representatives of alternative suppliers in the spring. Once those companies learned of the township’s high power use, though – its sewage pumping stations operate around the clock – they declined to offer service. Board members resigned themselves to buying power from PECO, the provider they’ve always had.
According to the PUC, only 674,000 Pennsylvania households – a fraction of the statewide total – have switched providers so far. It increasingly looks like a majority of consumers will, like Lower Pottsgrove, stay with the provider they have now and hope for the best.
Photo from Clipart.com
Sign up to get The Sanatoga Post delivered free daily by e-mail. Share this article.
See our galleries for photos that appear in The Post. Got news for us? E-mail The Post.
Find The Posts on Twitter, Facebook, Linked-In, Technorati, Flickr, YouTube, and RSS
We should all do whatever possible to reduce electrical energy consumption.
1. Replace older appliances with new more energy efficient models. AC, freezers, refridgerators all can reduce consumption and right now rebates sweeten the deals. Get rid of that old refridge in the garage and save.
2. Turn off those PC’s when they arnt in use. Replace that old CRT monitor with a LCD type and reduce your power use by 75% on that device. Remember some TV’s consume considerable power when off (older CRT types) so unplug them not just turning them off.
3. Turn off light when your not in the room and replace those older bulbs with new CFD types. Also there are new low power LED bulbs for many fixtures.
4. Reduce your heat loss by installing heavier curtains and drapes over windows. Allow sun in for free solar heat during appropriate hours of the day and reclose after that gain.
5. Shift from Electric heat to other types. Consider switching to Geothermal heating where the heat in mother earth is extracted and used to heat and cool. (this requires and upfron investment)
6. Consider b series of solar panels rooftop to augment and supply electrical power to your home. The newer devices are easily installed with a payback achieved in less than 6 years. Some instllation can supply 60% of your daily needs reducing your consumption considerably.
7. Contact your representatives and complain about the impact this rate increase will have on you and the dampening effect higher costs in a time of recession and near depression will have on the economy as a whole.
Most of all good luck, the future is going to cost us all more and more unless we act and act fast.
EJ Cox
4.
I’m not ready!