Pennsylvania families have every right to be frustrated when they open their electric bills this summer. Our utility bills are on the rise — again.
We live atop one of the largest natural-gas reserves in the world and are a national leader in electricity generation. For decades, Pennsylvania’s workforce has produced the natural gas, coal, and nuclear power that keep the lights on across the Mid-Atlantic.
Yet despite our abundance of energy resources, Pennsylvanians continue to face rising energy costs. And things only seem to be getting worse under Gov. Josh Shapiro.
How did a state with as much potential as Pennsylvania get here?
The answer is not that Pennsylvania lacks energy opportunity. It’s that Shapiro’s green-energy mandates have made it harder to build, transport, and generate the energy we already have. Thanks to Pennsylvania’s Alternative Energy Portfolio, which requires utilities to purchase unreliable and expensive energy sources (i.e., solar and wind), Pennsylvanians have paid more than $3.3 billion in added costs to their electricity bills.
To make matters worse, Shapiro wants to increase that mandate, which would double household electricity bills over the next decade.
Pennsylvania is the nation’s largest net electricity exporter. Our power plants help meet demand throughout the PJM regional grid, serving millions of customers across 13 states and the District of Columbia. In many ways, Pennsylvania is the energy backbone of the Northeast.
But while neighboring states benefit from Pennsylvania’s reliable energy supply, Shapiro and green-energy special interests in Harrisburg have too often stood in the way of expanding the very infrastructure that could increase supply and lower costs here at home.
For years, energy producers have faced costly permitting delays, regulatory uncertainty, and political hostility toward the natural-gas industry that once transformed Pennsylvania into an energy powerhouse. Instead of encouraging investment and production, Democrat politicians have increasingly chosen intervention over innovation.
The result is simple economics: When supply struggles to keep pace with demand, prices rise. In Pennsylvania, hardworking families are paying that price.
Even worse, Shapiro blames utility companies and the regional grid operator, but his own policies are a big part of why our rates keep climbing. In a single auction, PJM prices exploded nearly tenfold (from $29 to $270 per megawatt-day in 2025) as surging demand collided with a power supply that had been choked off by years of green-energy policies and permitting gridlock.
Shapiro’s answer, a price cap, suppresses investment in the reliable generation Pennsylvania needs to build, maintain, and actually bring prices down. It treats the symptoms while undercutting the cure.
The real winners under Shapiro’s green-energy scheme are far-left environmentalists and out-of-state energy consumers. While blue states across PJM, including Virginia and New Jersey, pursue carbon taxes and net-zero mandates, they lean on Pennsylvania to keep their lights on. Pennsylvania’s reliable generation covers the shortfalls those policies create, while Pennsylvania ratepayers, who see none of the benefit, foot the bill.
It’s like a classic group project. Pennsylvania does all the work, and other states — which don’t even produce energy — get all the credit.
This is especially frustrating because the commonwealth has everything it needs to lead the nation in affordable and reliable energy. We have abundant natural gas from the Marcellus Shale and a growing nuclear capability. We also have skilled workers, established infrastructure, and a competitive advantage most states would envy.
The question is whether Gov. Shapiro and his far-left base will allow Pennsylvania to use it.
Families don’t need more political talking points about energy affordability. They need policies that actually increase our energy supply and drive down costs.
There are changes we can make today to make Pennsylvania energy more affordable for Pennsylvanians first. The commonwealth must keep accelerating permitting approvals. Thankfully, the Pennsylvania Senate has taken the first step and advanced meaningful permitting reform. For example, Senate Bill 333—better known as the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny Act, or REINS Act — would require legislative approval of any proposed financially impactful regulations.
We also need to support pipeline and transmission infrastructure to export Pennsylvania energy across the globe. While Pennsylvania is the second-largest natural gas producer in the nation, regulatory uncertainty prevents us from quickly delivering more affordable and reliable energy.
Finally, if we reject policies that artificially restrict generation and recognize that green-energy mandates hurt consumers, we can deliver affordable and reliable energy to every household and business in the commonwealth.
Pennsylvania’s energy producers have done their part by making our state an energy leader.
Now, Gov. Shapiro must do his.
Pennsylvanians shouldn’t be paying premium prices while sitting on a world-class energy advantage. If we want lower electric bills, stronger economic growth, and greater energy security, the path forward is clear: unleash Pennsylvania energy.
The commonwealth should be America’s energy capital. It’s time our policies reflected that reality.
Kevin Kane is the director of legislative strategy at the Commonwealth Foundation, Pennsylvania’s free-market think tank.