FirstEnergy seeks rate hike to fund improvements
FirstEnergy Pennsylvania, which includes West Penn Power, is seeking an increase of its base electric rates from the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission.
If the plan is approved by the commission, the new rates would take effect June 1, according to information released by FirstEnergy.
Typical West Penn residential customers who use 1,000 kilowatt-hours per month would see a 10.6% increase in their bill. The rate increase request would total $169 million in additional funding for West Penn.
A commercial customer that uses 40 kilowatts for 250 hours would increase by 4.6%. An industrial customer using 20 megawatts for 474 hours would increase by 0.3%.
West Penn Power has about 746,000 customers in 24 Pennsylvania counties.
President of FirstEnergy Pennsylvania operations Scott Wyman said the extra money would be put toward investments in the energy grid and an expanded program targeting 2.4 million trees over 10 years that encroach on equipment.
“This rate proposal balances the need to invest in the system while helping keep electric bills comparable to other utilities in the state,” he said in a statement.
If the rate proposal is approved for all of FirstEnergy’s four utilities in Pennsylvania, the company expects to bring in an additional $502 million.
Rates last rose in 2017.
Renatta Signorini is a TribLive reporter covering breaking news, crime, courts and Jeannette. She has been working at the Trib since 2005. She can be reached at rsignorini@triblive.com.
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