Pa. Consumer Advocate Says She'll Fight Peco Request For Big Fixed Monthly Electric Increases
By Steve Tawa
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- As Peco Energy and PPL Electric file requests to the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission ("PUC") to increase the fixed monthly charges on customers' bills, critics are taking notice.
Acting Pennsylvania consumer advocate Tanya McCloskey takes the position that the fixed charge on electric bills, known as the "customer charge," should reflect only the direct costs of connecting each customer to the system: "costs such as meter reading and the billing."
She says raising the fixed customer charge creates a disincentive to conserve, and has a larger impact on low-use customers such as seniors and low-income households.
"It gives consumers less control of their bill because more of their bill is fixed and not based upon their usage," she notes.
Peco is looking to increase the fixed portion of customers' monthly bills by 68 percent, from $7.13 a month to $12. Peco says it's part of a larger request to the PUC that will increase the typical monthly bill by 5.9 percent overall.
PPL seeks a 42-percent increase in the fixed charge, from $14.13 to $20 per month. A PPL spokesman notes that the fixed portion represents only 12 percent of the typical monthly bill, which would increase by 6.9 percent overall if the PUC agrees.
McCloskey says she will bring aboard experts during the review process "to examine all of the companies' claims" before the PUC.