PECO electric rates up 5% in 2011

    PECO Energy has announced how much electricity prices will rise when rate caps are lifted Jan. 1.
    It’s not as much as first expected.

    The bills for utility customers who decide to stay with PECO for their electricity needs will jump by about five percent beginning January first. That’s about $5 a month on average. PECO spokesperson Cathy Engel says the company did what what it could to minimize price hikes.

    “When we first were looking at current energy market prices we were looking at that time of upwards of a 20 percent increase for customers. There’s been a lot of focus by a large number of people here at PECO to manage how we were purchasing power for customers and purchase power prudently to reduce the overall impact to our customers.”

    Next year, customers can shop around to find a supplier to beat PECO’s residential price of 9.92 cents per kilowatt hour. The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission has set up a website Papowerswitch.com to help people comparison shop.

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