As utility bills soar, PA House Energy and Consumer Protection, Technology & Utilities committees discuss solutions at joint hearing
Rep. Elizabeth Fiedler, Rep. Danilo Burgos January 20, 2026 | 4:50 PM
HARRISBURG, Jan. 20 – The House Energy and Consumer Protection, Technology & Utilities committees convened a joint informational meeting today on the causes of rising energy prices and discussed key legislative strategies to reduce costs and boost grid reliability.
Energy costs are rising throughout the country, and in Pennsylvania, they have increased at a rate that significantly outpaces inflation. Last year, energy costs rose by nearly 10% throughout the commonwealth, and utility shutoffs due to non-payment rose by 38%.
“I hear from constituents constantly about how hard it is right now, especially this winter, to afford the basics. We’re talking monthly bills in the hundreds of dollars just to keep a small apartment warm,” said Rep. Elizabeth Fiedler, majority chair of the House Energy Committee. “We need to look at every possible solution, and it’s my job to make sure the Energy Committee is passing workable, well-researched legislation that lowers prices.”
One of the primary drivers of soaring energy prices is rising demand. The rapid development of data centers, which use an extraordinary amount of energy, and electrification of fossil-fuel based industries have contributed to historic strain on the grid. As a result, Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland Interconnection capacity auctions have led to price spikes that are now hitting home.
Additionally, PJM, our region’s grid manager, has delayed connecting new sources of energy generation to the grid. The rollback of federal incentives for new clean energy projects—the cheapest and fastest to build—has also contributed to grid strain.
These conditions have created what Rep. Danilo Burgos calls “a perfect storm” for ratepayers.
“We are here today because for far too many Pennsylvanians, the monthly utility bill has moved from a routine expense to a source of genuine anxiety,” said Burgos, majority chair of the House Consumer Protection, Technology & Utilities Committee. “In Pennsylvania, heating your home in the winter or keeping the lights on for your small business is not a luxury—it is a basic necessity. Today, we moved beyond identifying the problems and toward legislative solutions.”
Ratepayers also foot the bill for the build-out of new grid infrastructure. Some testifiers argued that these expenses shouldn’t fall solely on working families or people with fixed incomes, especially when advanced transmission technologies are readily deployable.
Stephen M. DeFrank, chairman of the Pennsylvania Utilities Commission, spoke about the commission’s work to protect ratepayers from bearing the costs of infrastructure built solely to serve new large load projects, like data centers.
“Customers who do not benefit from these upgrades should not be on the hook for their costs,” DeFrank said.
Testifiers offered many other solutions to rising costs, including strengthening energy efficiency measures, protecting ratepayers from predatory retail energy suppliers, increasing grid reliability, and eliminating alternative ratemaking mechanisms that protect the profits of utility companies at the expense of ratepayers.
“More and more, utilities are proposing rate designs that allow for additional recovery from customers when they do not meet their revenue targets,” said Elizabeth Marx, executive director of the Pennsylvania Utility Law Project. Marx argued that alternative ratemaking measures like weather normalization adjustments penalize ratepayers when they use less energy than projected—for example, when it’s warmer in the winter due to climate change—to maintain revenue. She noted these mechanisms are especially perplexing, considering energy suppliers, generators and utilities continue see record breaking profits year after year.
Asim Haque, senior vice president for governmental and member services of PJM Interconnection; Andrew S. Tubbs, president and CEO of the Energy Association of Pennsylvania; Darryl Lawrence, Pennsylvania consumer advocate; Mark Ellis, senior fellow for utilities of the American Economic Liberties Project; Kristina Montgomery, senior director for state and regional policy engagement for Vistra Corp.; Evan Vaughn, executive director of MAREC Action; Julia Kortrey, deputy director for state policy of Evergreen Action; and Frank Caliva, national consultant of the Retail Energy Supply Association; all provided testimony.