Families and small businesses across Pennsylvania are opening their electric bills right now and asking a simple question: In a state so rich in energy resources, why is keeping the lights on getting so expensive?
It is a frustrating paradox. Pennsylvania is an energy powerhouse, yet our consumers are increasingly feeling the squeeze of rising utility costs. To fix this, we have to look past our local utility companies and understand the systemic failure occurring at the statewide and regional levels.
Many people assume companies like Penelec, PECO, or PPL are simply raising prices to line their pockets. In truth, these utilities don’t control the cost of electricity. Their job is strictly to deliver power — maintaining the poles and wires that keep the lights on. By law, they pass electricity supply costs directly through to consumers without a single penny of markup.
So what is actually driving higher bills from Erie to Philadelphia?
The answer lies in the regional electricity market run by PJM Interconnection, the power grid operator that coordinates electricity across Pennsylvania and twelve other states. Electricity is bought and sold through competitive auctions, and when prices skyrocket in those grid auctions, those increases are passed straight down to your kitchen table.
Right now, those grid prices are rising for a simple, undeniable economic reason: supply is shrinking while demand is exploding.
Across Pennsylvania and the broader PJM region, reliable, baseload power plants are being forced into retirement by over-regulation and political pressure. At the same time, demand for electricity is growing at a record pace — driven by new manufacturing, expanding businesses, and the massive, power-hungry emergence of data centers and artificial intelligence.
When supply tightens and demand spikes, prices soar. And Pennsylvania families pay the difference.
From the farms and small businesses of rural communities to the hospitals, schools, and industries in our suburbs and cities, reliable and affordable power is not a luxury. It is the lifeblood of our economy and our way of life.
The good news is that Pennsylvania has the exact resources needed to solve this crisis. We don’t need to import a solution; we are sitting right on top of it.
In Bradford County, where I serve as commissioner, we understand this dynamic intimately. Our communities sit at the heart of the mighty Marcellus Shale formation, consistently ranking near the very top of natural gas-producing counties in the nation. In fact, Bradford County proved this concept to the world when we became home to the nation’s very first power plant specifically designed to utilize Marcellus Shale gas. This resource has already transformed local economies, sustained good paying jobs, and significantly reduced emissions.
But as a Commonwealth, we are squandering our natural advantage.
We continue to produce vast, world-class amounts of natural gas, yet we are failing to build enough modern power plants required to turn that raw resource into the electricity our grid desperately needs. This massive disconnect between energy production and electricity generation is at the absolute heart of our rising utility bills.
The solution is straightforward: Pennsylvania needs to build more power plants, and we should be using Pennsylvania natural gas to fuel them.
Modern natural gas power plants are efficient, reliable, and exceptionally clean. Building these facilities closer to where the gas is produced—like northern and western Pennsylvania—and streamlining infrastructure to move that power across the state makes both practical and economic sense for every single ratepayer in the Commonwealth.
At the same time, Harrisburg needs to take a hard look at how our electricity market is structured.
Decades ago, Pennsylvania restructured its electric industry, forcing utilities to sell off their generation assets. Today, we rely heavily on a regional market that often reacts only after power shortages develop, rather than planning ahead to ensure a steady, affordable supply.
Many other states take a more balanced, common-sense approach. They allow regulated utilities to build and own power plants under the strict oversight of public utility commissions. These projects are carefully reviewed, investments are scrutinized, and consumer protections are built into the bedrock of the process. Most importantly, it allows for long-term planning, ensuring that supply actually keeps pace with demand and stabilizing prices for consumers over the long haul.
Pennsylvania should consider a similar path.
We must also focus on removing the bureaucratic barriers that delay new power plants from coming online. Lengthy state approval processes and massive PJM interconnection backlogs can add years to development timelines, leaving consumers vulnerable while energy projects sit trapped in red tape.
There has been plenty of finger-pointing in Harrisburg about rising electricity costs, but too often the political class focuses on the wrong solutions. Governor Shapiro’s recent political theater — publicly lecturing utility CEOs, labeling rate hikes as “pure greed,” and demanding heavy-handed state mandates over how utilities operate—completely misses the mark. Chiding companies and trying to aggressively regulate their financial returns might make for a good press release in an election year, but it is disastrous public policy. Dictating new regulatory benchmarks will not generate a single megawatt of electricity.
What we need is more supply.
Counties like Bradford have done their part. We have helped fuel Pennsylvania’s energy economy and strengthen America’s energy independence. Now, we need statewide policies that allow us to turn that energy into affordable, reliable electricity for all Pennsylvanians.
Pennsylvania has the resources. We have the skilled workforce. And we have the track record. Now, we just need the political will to build.
If we do, we can lower electricity bills, spark a new era of economic growth, and ensure that communities across the Commonwealth thrive for generations to come.
Doug McLinko is a Bradford County Commissioner. He is an advocate for Pennsylvania’s energy industry, focusing on policies that support job creation, economic freedom, and affordable utility costs for consumers across the Commonwealth.