Consumers saved from another rate hike during affordability crisis
Reps. Cephas, O’Mara ask for more transparency, details on profits
Rep. Ryan Bizzarro April 22, 2026 | 12:23 PM
PHILADELPHIA, April 22 – Consumers and working families will be saved from forking over another $30 or more each month after PECO withdrew its 12.5% rate increase originally scheduled for next year. While PECO highlighted affordability issues for ratepayers as the reason for its about-face earlier this month, the House Majority Policy Committee hosted a hearing on utility price increases to learn more.
A livestream of the hearing can be found here.
“Our responsibility is to ensure that utility rates are fair, justified and sustainable —because at the end of the day, these decisions impact every household and every employer in our communities,” said Rep. Morgan Cephas, who represents portions of Philadelphia and co-hosted the hearing. “We need transparency, accountability and a clear understanding of what’s driving these increases—and what can be done to protect workers, working families and seniors.”
Testifiers detailed utility rate increases would have been devastating, and previous increases continue to be devasting for families. Record electricity terminations have increased 27%, and 25% of households have cut food or medicine purchases to pay energy bills.
“The proposed 2027 rate hikes didn’t exist in a vacuum. These increases were scheduled after previous increases and at a time when families are already being pushed to the brink, deciding which basic needs they can afford,” said Rep. Jennifer O’Mara. “If utilities are asking for more, the public deserves full transparency on where previous rate-hike profits went and specifically how they’ve been used rather than a blanket statement that the majority have been re-invested into the system.”
Testifiers noted 1-in-20 households have utility debt.
“People are struggling, trying to decide which bill they can afford to pay this week,” said Policy Committee Chairman Ryan Bizzarro, who represents portions of Erie County. “When all essentials cost more, we need to examine what’s driving these price hikes. We need to see where these profits are actually being re-invested as we fight for a Pennsylvania you can afford.”
Earlier this month, PECO highlighted affordability concerns for its ratepayers as the reason for the rate increase withdrawal after discussions with Gov. Josh Shapiro. The hearing took place at Temple University’s Liacouras Center in the Fox-Gittis Room.
Tuesday’s House Majority Policy hearing featured testimony from Asim Haque explaining generation costs for Pennsylvania-Jersey-Maryland Interconnection, or PJM; Brendan Taylor from Philadelphia Electric Company, or PECO; Kelly Monaghan from Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission, or PUC; Patrick Cicero from Pennsylvania Utility Law Project, or PULP; Joline Price from Community Legal Services; and Harrison Breitman from the Pennsylvania Office of Consumer Advocate.
Haque from PJM broke down a residential bill, focusing on PJM’s generation costs. He highlighted how a recent increase in pricing was the result of a major uptick in the capacity market. He also noted, PJM has proposed that market will be capped until mid-2030. However, PJM noted data center growth is coming, and that growth will require major infrastructure costs as well as greater demand on generation – one hyperscale data center will demand the electricity equivalence of about 80,000 residential homes. Taylor noted the danger for infrastructure upgrades could be stranded costs, if upgrades go online but the data center never goes online.
Information about this hearing and other House Majority Policy Committee hearings can be found at pahouse.com/policy. Photos to be used for publication can be found at pahouse.com/PolicyCommittee/Galleries.