Oh my gosh I can't even imagine. I got the mini split system because oil was $600/month at 64°

I'm currently between 66-68° in the house which is just... Not fun

Unfortunately we bought our house knowing a lot of it wasn't updated. That's why it was such a good deal. It's going to be painful, but it's becoming more and more obvious how necessary the windows are

Cries in $700 electric bills (electric heat)

Yeah, that's not a huge house, so the windows should make a huge difference, unfortunately, for your wallet. More insulation should help too. Not sure why it wouldn't. My house has a furnace from the 90s and insulation from the 70s, windows are good as far as keeping their seals. I'm thinking of adding all new insulation. The finished part of my basement has no floor insulation and I think it's a big problem.

It’s literally ranked the second poorest city in the country. Reading is like the worst parts of Philadelphia took over 80 percent of the city. It’s completely different.

WOW? It feels like the company is just, plain making crap UP at this point. And PPL sorta slid it in on us- we DID get a notification there would be a FORTY PERCENT increase 40???? So it transpires we can do simply nothing to counter it like deliberately use a lot less energy.

Feels like they're going to charge us anyway.

I got this email yesterday:

“To our Valued Customers,

You have a right to expect excellent service from your electric utility. We know that delivering reliable electricity – keeping the lights on for you – must be matched by exceptional customer service. In recent weeks, we’ve fallen short of this standard in both our billing and responsiveness to customers.

Today, I’m reaching out to address these issues, including estimated bills, to share steps we’re taking to support our customers, and to explain what it means for you. I also want to take this opportunity to address higher prices for energy supply, which have been the primary driver of higher bills. While we don’t control these energy supply costs, we are committed to doing what we can to help you in this challenging time.

While estimated billing and higher prices are unrelated, together they have fueled a sharp increase in customer calls, resulting in long wait times for many who have tried to contact us. If you received an estimated bill or have had difficulty reaching our call center, I apologize. Simply put, you deserve better, and we are committed to regaining your trust.

Actions we’re taking to support our customers:

First and foremost, we’ve resolved the technical issue that resulted in a significant number of bills that were based on estimated electricity usage. This issue involved bills sent from December 20 through January 9. Estimates based on historical usage may have been higher or lower than actual usage. If this impacted you, you have either already received a corrected bill with actual usage or an adjustment on your next monthly bill to ensure you only pay for the electricity you used. By fixing the technical issue, we have restored customers’ access to detailed usage information online at pplelectric.com. We will not shut off power to residential and small-business customers for non-payment through March 31. We are waiving all late fees in January and February. Any fees already charged in January will be credited to customer accounts. We continue to offer payment plans and assistance programs that can help if you are struggling to pay your electric bill. This includes self-service options that are available to you online at pplelectric.com/billhelp or by calling 1-800-DIAL-PPL. We are adding more agents to answer your calls and reduce wait times.”

There was more afterward telling me how to compare prices and shit.

This strikes me as a very “oopsie doodle!” and not genuine.

I've seen the same with electricity. I went out of my way to make my house more energy efficient through insulating and air sealing. As a result we used like 15-20% less electricity but our bill was $10-20 more than last year because of electric rates going up by like 40%.

My house is 1690ft^2. We try to keep the temp around 68°F. We're gonna get new windows because all of ours are garbage, but that's gonna be a $10k expense 🤮 our furnace is also from the 70s so I'm sure it's not super efficient. I want to add more insulation to the attic too but my partner and my dad don't think it will help (I don't think it could hurt but what do I know)

Ppl is very silly. My bill was pretty high in Dec and magicaly in Jan I used 1300 kWh less than last year

There's no way I used 1000 less in January than December

Some people can probably sue for undue hardship they caused

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I see you've never dealt with Duquesne Light.

They will send a shutoff notice dated the day after the payment date which gives ten days to pay the bill before they'll shut off service. They're also notorious for back-dating notices. People get a notice that's postmarked the day prior to them receiving it, but the notice itself is dated for a week or more prior.

They will also leave shutoff notices that are back dated on people's doors after the date they state they will shut off service has already passed. Not mailed, just left there. Sometimes they tape them to doors, sometimes they shove them in mailboxes, sometimes they just throw them on the ground.

They are absolutely a shit company.

In case anyone else was curious and didn't want to figure it out, it's in Greencastle

$400 in December? Do you have a giant house? Mine wasn't that bad and I thought gas was supposed to be cheaper than oil.

Contact PUC and your state rep's office.

>PPL still hasn't explained exactly what happened. Be nice if some news media would press them on it, but most news outlets simply regurgitate whatever a company or official says.

PPL did not have interval data (15min usage) in their billing system for the days between 12/22 and 12/26. Without usage they were unable to calculate invoices and charges. This also overlapped the cold weather around Christmas, which included extreme spot market prices. The data has been recovered, but there are still issues, not sure what is taking so long to resolve.

PPL is in the business of electric distribution. They do provide electric supply to those that opt not to select a 3rd party supplier. Their strategy to set utility supply rates involve purchases in April and October, with various terms and percentages. These costs are averaged and trued up every six months. Needless to say, October was a terrible time to secure commodity, hence the high price to compare.

3rd party suppliers for residential customers is typically a bad idea. Most people sign up and forget to re-shop at the end of the contract. The supplier is not responsible to return your account to the utility supply, but rather starts billing at a variable rate. This is all spelled out in the contact, but everyone wants to file a complaint. The responsibility is on you. I encourage most people not to shop for their home.

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Me three

I'm new to my home and not only have that but also got a minisplit system installed, so I have no idea what my average electricity is supposed to be.

I estimated $150 because that's how much it cost for my apartment that was on the second floor and was bigger, but somehow the estimate is saying it'll be $245.

Ugh 😩

In the late 90’s/early 2000’s there were places around here that only did applications (paper) through careerlink. I guess they figured it was better than having people showing up in their offices. I guess now people figure most bigger places have a link right on the website. I haven’t used careerlink since 2008 but I don’t think I ever got a call from somewhere that I put the app in through them so I stopped using it.

There are third parties you can opt into for supply, although in not sure how good most of them are.

Why not both? Also the PUC just announced an investigation into this yesterday. Hopefully something comes of it.

When people hoot and holler and bitch about da gubbermint, point at shit like this. When government regulations on business are weak, they can do shit like this with impunity, and frequently do.

 
In a just world with a functioning regulatory state, shit like this would get a company broken up.

Yesterday the PA Public Utilities Commission announced a full investigation into this BS, for whatever that's worth.