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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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State Rep. Neal P. Goodman State Rep. Tim Seip
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Goodman, Seip call on PUC to deny PPL's rate hike request
HARRISBURG, April 1 – State Reps. Neal P. Goodman and Tim Seip are asking the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission to deny PPL Electric Utilities' rate increase request.
PPL is seeking a 16.5 percent increase in its retail distribution rates, adding about $7.41 to the average residential customer's monthly bill.
"With the economy still sluggish and unemployment still high, now is not the time to ask people who are struggling to make ends meet to pay more for their electricity," said Goodman, D-Schuylkill.
Back in March, when PPL announced it was planning to request the rate hike, the Northeast Democratic Delegation of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives acted quickly in sending the power company a letter asking that they reconsider.
Goodman, chairman of the delegation, said he is disappointed PPL is moving forward with the rate increase request and is preparing a letter that will be sent to the PUC asking that the rate increase be denied.
PPL said it needs the rate increase to make improvements to its electric distribution system and to recover costs of recent investments to the system. Delegation members question why these new investments are needed at this time.
"The current distribution charge generates roughly $700 million annually to pay for maintenance and replacement of poles, wires and other components. I don't understand why an additional $115 million a year is needed right now," said Seip, D-Schuylkill/Berks, who is also a member of the delegation.
This latest increase would affect all PPL residential customers, including those who switched to another supplier to save money when generation rate caps expired three months ago and PPL raised rates by as much as 30 percent.
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