The 2,200 Lancaster County customers of Metropolitan Edison Co. electricity utility will see a $3.67 a month credit on their bills starting in July and running through the end of the year.
The bill for the typical Met-Ed customer who uses 750 kilowatt hours of electricity per month is $109.23, according to Todd Meyers, senior communications representative for First Energy, Med-Ed’s parent company. The credit will reduce that typical bill to $105.56 through December. Even those Med-Ed customers who have shopped for and entered into a contract with an electricity supplier other than Met-Ed will receive the credit, Meyers said in an email.
The credits, approved by the state Public Utility Commission this week, were triggered by a change in tax law that dates to 2017.
“These refunds to consumers are the result of the substantial decrease in federal corporate tax rates and other tax changes under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) of 2017, which impacted the tax liability of many utilities,” PUC press secretary Nils Hagen-Frederiksen explained in an email.
“Since 2017, utilities that have come before the PUC with rate cases have seen the TCJA savings integrated into their new rates … but utilities that have not filed for any rate changes continue to use the negative surcharge/bill credit system to return the tax savings to customers,” he wrote.
The most recent round of credits, all approved by the PUC this week, also includes customers of Penn Power, West Penn Power, Penelec and Peoples Gas. The PUC said the total amount of credits approved this week by utility are: Penn Power, $5 million; West Penn Power, $15.2 million; Penelec, $26.8 million; Met-Ed, $16.3 million; and Peoples Gas, $939,925.
For those customers due them, the credits will take a small bite out of significant electricity rate hikes that went into place June 1 for many utilities across the state.
For example, Met-Ed’s residential rate went up 16% – from 6.832 cents to 7.936 cents per kWh.PPL Electric Utilities – the primary electric utility in Lancaster County with about 227,000 customers – boosted its residential rate by 38.3%, from 8.941 cents to 12.366 cents per kWh.
In an effort to take some of the sting out of those rate hikes, the PUC has suggested residents shop for the most competitive rates at papowerswitch.com.
Success! An email has been sent with a link to confirm list signup.
Error! There was an error processing your request.