SCRANTON TIMES-TRIBUNE Editorial: Consumers are nearly powerless when dealing with supposedly regulated electricity providers in Pennsylvania. At the state Public Utility Commission, the emphasis is on its own utility as an instrument of the companies’ interests.
The PUC continued its roll last week by approving a 4.3 percent rate increase for PPL Electric Utilities. It also allowed PPL to craft the award so that consumers will have to pay most of the increase regardless of whether they actually use electricity. The monthly charge for basic services, including meter reading that is done mostly by computer, will jump by more than 61 percent, from $8.75 to $14.09. That charge is the price for being connected to the system rather than for actual power usage, so even a Herculean effort at power conservation would not help consumers save money.
Although the utility cited infrastructure improvement and the costs of repairing 2011 storm damage, the PUC award provides a whopping 10.4 percent rate of return for shareholders. In keeping with its history, the PUC again has transferred the utility’s risk from investors to customers alone… (more)
