How not to empty your savings paying your energy bill

PITTSBURGH — The last time electricity prices were this high we were all trying to stay warm during the polar vortex of 2014.

Electric bills cost the owner of a bowling alley, bar, restaurant and banquet center quite a bit these days.

The morning we met him, he’d just paid his.

“It took about three cups of coffee to get through that because it was enormous,” said Bob Crossland, owner Micky’s Place and Kennedy Lanes in Kennedy Township.

But not as big as when he tried power switching.

In Pennsylvania, you can pick a new electric supplier by using www.papowerswitch.com.  You can choose to switch to get a lower price or a specific type of service.

“My hope was that I would at least retain a bill that was manageable or maybe even decrease,” said Bob. “That wasn’t the case.”

Bob tried power switching shortly after buying his business in 2009 and ended up with a variable rate. The first three months were fine.

“Within about six months of me signing the one year agreement, they were out of control,” he said. “It ended up costing me literally thousands of dollars.”

“I really recommend that folks think long and hard about how much they want to pay attention this part of their lives,” said Patrick Cicero, Consumer Advocate for the PA Office of Consumer Advocate.

If you’re thinking about power switching, look for the “price to compare” on your electric bill-that’s what you’re being charged per kilowatt hour. Then compare that number on www.papowerswitch.com with what another company would charge you.

For example: If your current price to compare is 10 cents per kilowatt hour, and the new supplier you’re looking at is nine cents per kilowatt hour, you’ll save one cent on every kilowatt hour you use. So if the average number of kilowatts you use every month is, say 500, you’ll save $5 a month.

“You can save some money and depending on what deal you get it could be money that makes a difference,” said Cicero. “But this is something that you have to remain vigilant about.”

Especially if you sign up for a variable rate, like Bob.

You have the choice of variable and fixed. If you chose variable, you might have to shop every month, says Cicero.

He says they see people get into the most trouble with power switching at the end of a contract. If you don’t do anything, like renew or cancel, at the end of it, you’ll automatically get rolled over into a variable rate. Even if you had a fixed rate the first contract.

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission maintains the power switching website. We asked them who would benefit from power switching.

They said a fixed rate would help someone who wants to keep a specific price for a longer period of time, even when the utilities change their rates either biannually or quarterly.

As for a variable rate:

“You need to be able to control the amount of power you use at a moment’s notice. Because if those rates go up, you better be able to shut things down,” said Stephen DeFrank, Vice Chairman PUC for PA.

So he says someone with a second home, or someone who lives alone and can really control their electric usage would benefit from a variable rate.

“It could very well be a good option,” said Crossland. “The devil is in the details so read the fine print. I did not read the details and it kind of got me in the fix I was in.”

If you’re falling behind on your bill, households up to 200% of poverty, are eligible for a hardship fund grant through their utility company. It’s a few hundred dollars to get you caught up.

Very low income households, those at or below 150% of poverty, are eligible for LIHEAP. It’s a cash grant of $300 to $1,000 dollars and you don’t have to be behind on your bill, just struggling.

Very low income households falling behind on a bill are eligible for a crisis grant up to $1,000 if you’re facing loss of service.

Here are more resources online:

https://www.papowerswitch.com/

https://www.duquesnelight.com/account-billing/payment-assistance

https://www.firstenergycorp.com/help/billingpayments/assistance_serviceprogram.html

https://www.oca.pa.gov/

https://www.puc.pa.gov/electricity/

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