JL: Susan, the governor is proposing a series of reforms to address this gap and the burden on ratepayers. What does he want to do?
SP: He proposed a couple of things, including a new utility affordability watchdog who will scrutinize company profits against the burden of rate payers. This is theoretically what the PUC is supposed to do. So he’s also asked the PUC to step it up.
Gov. Josh Shapiro: “I want the PUC to examine every single line of every single bill to ensure each customer dollar is being well spent.”
SP: He also wants to eliminate certain fees. So for example, if someone gets their electricity shut off for lack of payment, they often have to pay an extra fee to turn it back on. Now, it’s important to note that Shapiro can’t make all these changes by himself. He needs lawmakers to do their part.
JS: “I’m working with the PUC to prevent excessive utility profits this year, but the General Assembly needs to take action to lower costs for consumers going forward by giving the PUC a set of benchmarks to follow when determining how much profit a utility company can make.”
JL: Now, how is the industry reacting to the governor’s roadmap to rein in high electricity costs?
SP: The industry says it is willing to work with the governor. It also says there needs to be additional power plants built. And here’s an interesting thing, Jennifer. Back in the 90s, Pennsylvania deregulated its electricity market. So that meant that the utilities that had once both generated electricity and distributed it and sold it were no longer allowed to do both things. They want to go back to generating electricity and distributing it. Now, the reason that was broken up was because the government wanted to increase competition, right?
And lower rates for ratepayers. So it’ll be interesting to see if this gets off the ground and if utilities are able to actually go back in time and start generating electricity as well as sell it.
JL: Pennsylvania is not alone. New Jersey and Delaware, and other states are dealing with high electricity prices, too.
SP: Yup, that’s true. Our region is all part of the same electrical grid that I mentioned earlier. It’s operated by PJM Interconnection. Shapiro is very critical of PJM, accusing them of dragging their feet on installing new energy projects, specifically renewables. Now, PJM pushes back on that and says that is simply not true. The grid operator says it has approved a number of projects, but other issues are holding back construction, things like state permits and supply chain issues.
JL: OK, well thank you, Susan. Thank you. From our climate desk, Susan Phillips this morning on WHYY’s Morning Edition.