PA Switch Programs Can Save You Money Monthly

Did you know that the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania deregulated electricity and natural gas suppliers back in the 1990s? It seems that most PA homeowners don’t know this. This means that you can shop for a new electricity and natural gas supplier for your home or business and lower your monthly electricity and natural gas bills with a little work. Your local electric and gas utilities (such as PPL and UGI) still deliver power and natural gas to your home and send you your monthly bills, but what you are changing is who generates your power or supplies your natural gas. You still get one bill each from your local utilities each month. PPL and UGI doesn’t generate power and gas (they only deliver these items to your home), so even PPL and UGI suggest that consumers shop for lower-cost suppliers. This saves you money every month and it only takes a few minutes to change suppliers. Why wouldn’t you do this?

All you need is a recent electricity and natural bills and a computer.

Visit the PA PowerSwitch website: www.papowerswitch.com
Visit the PA NaturalGasSwitch website: www.pagasswitch.com

Once at their websites, enter your zip code. Next, the websites will display your current supplier’s “Price To Compare” price per KWH (KiloWatt Hour) for electricity or CCF (hundred cubic feet) for natural gas; this info is normally also listed in your monthly bill. This price may change quarterly. Lower down the page will be a long list of all PA licensed electricity or natural gas suppliers who service your area. At the top of the page, you can sort by “Price: Low to High”. This will re-order the listed electricity suppliers in terms of price from low to high as well as sorting by fixed or variable rate programs.

Knowing your current “Price To Compare”, you can find a plan that is cheaper than you are now paying. A “Fixed” rate plan is wiser than a “Variable” rate plan as the fixed price is set for the term of your contract. The various suppliers’ contracts vary anywhere from monthly to 36+ months. With a “Variable” rate plan, you don’t necessarily know from month-to-month what your electricity rate will be and, in some cases in recent years, these rates have increased well over 300% from month-to-month. A “Fixed” longer term rate is probably best for the vast majority of consumers as they are locked in to a low price for a longer period of time. Electricity and natural gas rates rarely go down, so changing to the supplier with the lowest “Fixed” rate plan for 12+ months is often best. Some suppliers have an early cancellation fee if you change suppliers again before your contract is over.

Once you choose your next electricity or natural gas supplier, follow the link to their website where you can read the plan details (rate per KHW or CCF, term, and other details). Enter your current utility account number, address, etc. You will then normally get an email or letter in the mail in a few weeks to confirm your new supplier. The change in supplier (and thus your new price) may take a month or two to take effect based upon where you are in your current electricity billing cycle.

In the past, I’ve personally lowered my electric and natural gas bills anywhere between $8~$20 per month over what my local electric (PPL) and natural gas (UGI) utilities would charge for the same usage. That amount may not seem like much, but that can exceed over $150 in savings in the course of a year over your local utility supplier’s prices. As Benjamin Franklin once said, “A penny saved is a penny earned”… the PA PowerSwitch and PA NaturalGasSwitch programs can save you a lot of pennies every month.

We have also written other articles that you may find of interest in terms of saving energy and energy efficiency:
Attic Insulation
Energy Saving Air Conditioning Tips
Energy Saving Heating Tips
Heating Energy Cost Comparisons

Matthew Steger is a Certified Level 1 Infrared Thermographer, an ASHI Certified Inspector (ACI), and an electrical engineer. He can be reached at matthew@thehomeinspectorsnotebook.com. No article, or portion thereof, may be reproduced or copied without prior written consent of Matthew Steger.