BETHLEHEM, Pa. — The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission announced Thursday it will suspend and investigate PPL Electric's proposed rate increase for its customers.
An investigation is a common practice when a utility company proposes hiking its rates. In the past 12 months, the PUC has launched investigations into at least six other utilities that wanted to raise their rates for gas or electric services.
The investigation staves off any PPL rate increases for up to seven months so that the commission can hold public hearings and gather testimony from concerned stakeholders. A decision on the request is due by July 7. Hearing dates have not yet been scheduled.
Investigations can lead to settlements that result in smaller-than-proposed rate hikes.
At the end of September, PPL requested that the PUC allow the utility to raise its rates. Under the proposal, residential customers using about 1,000 kilowatt-hours per month would pay about $13 more each month.
Commercial customers would see an average rise of $8 a month, and industrial users would pay about $514 more a month.
PPL said the rate hikes would allow it to generate $356.3 million more in annual revenue, which would allow it to improve its customer service, reduce outages caused by extreme storms and strengthen its cybersecurity protections, among other needs.
PPL's efforts to raise its rates continues a national trend of surging utility bills. While inflation has returned to pre-pandemic levels — 2.7% over the past year — the cost of electricity has climbed at double that pace. CBS News reported in August that nearly 60 utility companies intend to increase their electricity rates this year by more than $38 billion.
While much of the national energy debate has focused on the source — gas, coal, solar, wind, etc. — CBS News reported that much of the problem is the grid itself. At the end of 2023, the country was generating 2,300 gigawatts more than transmission lines could handle.
At the same time, the rise of power-thirsty artificial intelligence has created a spike in demand that's sent corporations scrambling for solutions. Constellation Energy is in the process of reopening the Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station to power AI operations for Microsoft.
