”Competition is a good thing, and people are shopping in a very big way now that the rate caps are off.”
If you want to blame somebody for your jacked up electric bill, it should be Charlie Dent, says Bethlehem Mayor John Callahan, who is trying to unseat the Lehigh Valley congressman.
In the Democrat’s opening salvo against his Republican opponent in the race for the 15th District seat, Callahan issued a press release last week reminding voters that incumbent Dent voted for deregulation 14 years ago when he was a member of the stateHouse of Representatives.
The 1996 deregulation measure set a timeline for the state to follow that would end a system in which power companies could not raise rates without the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission’s permission. It also temporarily froze, or capped, the rates that utilities could charge customers for the electricity generation portion of their bills.
That cap expired in January in PPL’s territory. The company increased rates about 30 percent for residential customers and competitors entered the market.
But even the cheapest choice presents customers with a substantial electric bill increase.
”I do think that government can and should play an appropriate role in the marketplace,” Callahan said. ”The question comes down to balance — not too much and not too little. Otherwise, you end up in this situation we are in now: Electric companies raising billions of profits and raising rates by 30 percent.”
Dent said he stands by his vote, which helped open the electricity market in the state to competition.
Read the full Morning Call article here
Tags: Charlie Dent, John Callahan
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