Higher bills, greater risk of shutoff: Pa.’s largest electric company seeks new protections for customers who shop for suppliers
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HARRISBURG -- A case before state utility regulators could lead to new guardrails for customers who shop for their energy supplier, as Pennsylvania's largest electric company says the current system leads to consumers inadvertently paying more.
Existing regulations don't do enough to ensure that customers understand what they're signing up for, or that suppliers charge reasonable prices, FirstEnergy Pennsylvania argued in a case filed with the Public Utility Commission earlier this year.
Under a landmark state law passed in 1996, Pennsylvania residents can choose the company that supplies their electricity; otherwise, they receive the "default service" offered by their utility.
But choosing to shop has generally not worked out for residential customers, instead leading to higher bills and greater risk of termination, FirstEnergy says. The company serves more than 2 million customers across the commonwealth under the brand names Met-Ed, Penelec, Penn Power, and West Penn Power.
The case will test whether regulators are willing to reconsider long-standing policies intended to bolster the retail electric market, and comes at a time when rising energy prices are top of mind for customers and politicians. FirstEnergy says it saw a sharp uptick in customer complaints about suppliers last year.
The administrative law judges overseeing the case have recommended the utility commission adopt FirstEnergy's proposed changes, but those recommendations are not binding. The commission will consider them at its Oct. 22 public meeting. In recent years, the commission has rejected similar but narrower changes in cases involving other utilities.
FirstEnergy's arguments echo concerns that consumer advocates have raised for years. The proposed changes "would fix some of the extractive loopholes in the market that suppliers take advantage of to jack up prices and confuse consumers," said Elizabeth Marx, executive director of the Pennsylvania Utility Law Project, which represents low-income customers.
Electricity bills in Pennsylvania have increased sharply in recent years. Surging demand -- driven largely by the rapid growth of data centers -- and a lag in new energy generation have led to dramatic spikes in wholesale power prices.
Utility profits have also drawn criticism, including from Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro, who has publicly warned utilities to stop seeking "unacceptably high" rate hikes. Those profits don't come from the supply for electricity, the part of customers' bills at issue in the FirstEnergy case. Utilities are required to pass the cost of buying electricity on to customers without any markup.
Suppliers, who vehemently oppose FirstEnergy's plan, argue they are being scapegoated for recent price increases. They argue the changes would upend years of established policy, undermine state law, and effectively kill Pennsylvania's retail market.
"Sometimes there's a tendency to reach for the nearest lever even when it's not necessarily the right lever," said Frank Caliva, national spokesperson for the Retail Energy Supply Association.
"The solution can't be to shut down the market and take away people's choice."
A FirstEnergy spokesperson told Spotlight PA that the company "does not comment on pending litigation and legal proceedings."
A high-stakes choice
Electric bills are made up of two parts: supply -- the cost of the electricity itself -- and delivery, the cost of the poles and wires that bring it to a customer's home. Most customers get their electric supply from their utility. State law requires utilities like FirstEnergy to buy power for these customers through a competitive process meant to achieve the lowest cost over time.
Some customers choose to have their electricity supplied by a different kind of company, a retail supplier. They still pay their utility to deliver that power.
In 2025, FirstEnergy customers could pick from more than 80 retail suppliers. A state website -- papowerswitch.com -- allows customers to compare offers from suppliers with what they'd pay if they stayed with their utility.
Roughly 17% of FirstEnergy's residential customers were served by retail suppliers in the first three months of the year, state data show -- in line with the median rate statewide.
Those customers mostly ended up paying more, according to data FirstEnergy submitted in regulatory filings earlier this year.
In 2025, the data show, residential customers served by an alternative supplier paid almost $82 million more than if they had stayed with the utility -- even after accounting for customers who saved money. Suppliers raised various objections to the data, but the administrative law judges overseeing the case rejected their arguments.
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