ELLWOOD CITY, Pa. — Residents in Ellwood City are being forced to make difficult decisions to cope with skyrocketing electric bills.
The borough said there could be several reasons for the higher bills, which in some cases are double or triple what they used to be, including warmer temperatures and a higher use rate.
“It went up $100 one month and another $100 the next month,” Judy McCloskey, an Ellwood City resident, said.
Meanwhile, a few doors down from McCloskey, Barbara Wagoner showed Channel 11 News an electric bill for more than $500 in April. She said bills like that one have become more and more common.
“I worry because I don’t know how I’m going to pay for the rest of my bills, utility bills, food bills. I’m just so afraid of my electric getting shut off because my mom needs it for her oxygen,” Wagoner said.
Neighbors and business owners alike told Channel 11 News that electric bills from the borough run power and light company have skyrocketed in recent months.
Ellwood City Borough Manager Bob Villella said the borough is looking at every possibility as to why rates are on the rise.
In addition to pointing out that temperatures have been in the 80s for most of the month, Villella said potential contributing factors to the higher bills include more days in the latest billing cycle and an ongoing spike in transmission fees.
Villella expects transmission fees to drop in the next two to three months, but that doesn’t solve the current problem people like McCloskey are dealing with.
“You have to decide which bills you’re going to pay and which bills you’re not, and the electric bill has to be paid,” McCloskey said.
The borough recommends that anyone struggling to pay a bill should contact them to set up a payment plan.