Pennsylvania regulators have directed a statewide examination of how electricity suppliers automatically renew customers’ contracts, according to the Pennsylvania Capital-Star and WCCS. The state consumer advocate says about 299,000 PECO households buy power from a supplier rather than PECO.
On Oct. 22, the Public Utility Commission voted 3-2 to turn down a FirstEnergy proposal that would have sent shopping customers back to the utility’s default service rate when a fixed-price supplier contract expired, unless the customer opted to remain with the supplier, the Capital-Star and WCCS reported. Instead, the commission instructed its Office of Competitive Market Oversight to conduct an expedited review of the broader market, with recommendations due June 1, 2027, according to both outlets.
Scope of the review
The review will examine fixed-price contracts that renew automatically, as well as variable-rate plans that customers roll onto, Energy Choice Matters reported. It is not limited to FirstEnergy customers; the broader market is included, the Capital-Star and WCCS reported.
Chairman Stephen DeFrank introduced the motion to begin the review. Vice Chair Kimberly Barrow and Commissioner Kathryn Zerfuss dissented, saying they would have approved the ban immediately, according to the Capital-Star and Energy Choice Matters.
“We find ourselves squarely in the middle of an affordability crisis and customers are rightfully asking for relief,” Barrow said in a statement read at the meeting, the Capital-Star reported. “I do not know how much longer we need to study a problem that this record already documents, and quite thoroughly,” Zerfuss said during the meeting, according to the Capital-Star.
What customers have paid
FirstEnergy’s residential shopping customers paid nearly $82 million more in 2025 than they would have under default service, Spotlight PA reported. Across the state, residential shopping customers paid about $350 million more in 2024 than they would have on default service, according to the Energy Association of Pennsylvania, the utilities’ trade group, as reported by Spotlight PA.
“What FirstEnergy was trying to do was something that my office and others have been trying to do for a very long time,” Consumer Advocate Darryl Lawrence said, according to the Capital-Star.
Suppliers have pushed back against restrictions. “The solution can’t be to shut down the market and take away people’s choice,” Frank Caliva, a spokesperson for the Retail Energy Supply Association, told Spotlight PA before the vote.
What PECO customers in the Northeast can do now
As of March 31, 299,270 PECO residential customers, or about one in five, were buying electricity from an alternative supplier, according to shopping statistics from the Office of Consumer Advocate. A Northeast-specific breakdown is not published.
The commission advises customers to “be aware of your contract expiration date and watch for renewal notices from your current supplier.” It says offers below the price-to-compare benchmark may be short-term contracts lasting three to six months. Customers can compare offers at PAPowerSwitch.com, the state shopping website.
The commission had not yet issued its written order when Energy Choice Matters reported on the vote.
Sources
Photo: PECO power lines in Philadelphia. Tonyglen14 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.
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