Posted on 10/12/2025 9:04:03 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Pennsylvania was supposed to be the energy state that got it right.
Thanks to the Marcellus Shale formation, natural gas made Pennsylvania a net exporter of electricity. Fracking enabled Pennsylvania to power homes and industry not just here, but across the entire Mid-Atlantic. The state’s natural gas built modern power plants, attracted investment, and helped America move toward energy independence.
So how is it that Pennsylvanians are still paying more for electricity every year?
Over the past five years, electricity prices in Pennsylvania have risen 45%. It is a tick lower than the national average of a 46% price increase. However, that is hardly comforting when neighbors across the border, in states that import electricity from Pennsylvania, have seen smaller increases.
Let that sink in.
Four of the six states surrounding Pennsylvania buy electricity from us. Yet, somehow, their electric prices have risen less than ours. For a state that exports power, it is puzzling and unacceptable.
It gets worse.
The state of Virginia relies on importing electricity from Pennsylvania. It is also home to more data centers than any other state. Yet, Virginia only saw its electricity rates increase at half as much as Pennsylvania’s despite being home to the energy-hungry industry.
Pennsylvania sits at the center of the massive regional grid that keeps the lights on in thirteen states and Washington, D.C. The Keystone State produces more power than it uses. Incredulously, Pennsylvanians are stuck watching their electric bills rise. It is like owning a bakery and still paying more for bread.
The irony is that Pennsylvania has every advantage: abundant natural gas, modern generating capacity, and a location that makes it a key hub in the national energy market. What is missing is the advantage that should matter most: affordability.
Prices are not rising because Pennsylvania has run out of energy. Quite the contrary. Pennsylvania has decades, potentially centuries, worth of natural gas. It does not cost more to generate electricity. When adjusted for inflation, the cost to make an electron has declined 11% while the cost to send electrons to customers has increased 14%. That’s a wallet-busting 25 point spread.
Prices are rising because regulation, transmission costs, and capacity auctions for potentially inflated demand are stacking fees on top of fuel. Somewhere between the wellhead and the wall outlet, efficiency has turned into bureaucracy.
Voters are noticing: 86% of likely voters are concerned about their electric bill. For example, a nearly a majority of digital ads are focused on defining who is to blame for New Jersey’s escalating electric prices in a heated, competitive race for governor. Just as many likely run on television.
Pennsylvania’s leaders would be wise to pay attention. Gov. Josh Shapiro, the entire state House, and half of the state Senate are up for re-election in 2026. Energy is already shaping up to be the pocketbook issue that connects inflation, regulation, and frustration all at once.
No talking point can fix the reality that families know they live in a state that exports power yet still see prices rising faster than their paychecks.
Steps are being taken to address the key issues.
A bill was introduced this week to stop the double, and even triple, counting of the same pending data center projects which may be artificially inflating electricity prices.
Projects ready to deliver electricity into the grid have languished in the operator’s bureaucracy for reasons unknown. Policymakers have applied pressure to compel the grid operator to approve proposed projects more quickly without sacrificing safety.
Both parties agree that siting reform is necessary to bring more electric generation projects online. Gov. Shapiro’s proposal to create a new authority usurping local decision-making has met considerable pushback. Meanwhile, state Senate Republicans have advocated for a proposal that addresses NIMBY issues while expediting large-scale electric generation projects.
Electricity is not just an economic metric. It’s indicative of competence.
People expect government to deliver basic things: safe roads, good schools, and affordable power. When those expectations are not met, trust continues to erode.
If our neighbors can buy our electricity more cheaply than Pennsylvanians can, something is wrong in Harrisburg. The fix is not complicated. Pennsylvania does not need more bureaucracy, more fees, or more rhetoric about “transition.”
If we can power half the East Coast, surely we can power Pennsylvania affordably.
* * *
Democrat governors and Democrat US senators.
Democrats are criminals.
They plunder.
Must you ask?
In a word, corruption.
Corruption and paying homage to the CO2 as pollution fiction.
You guys are breaking my heart!
“R” Residential 48.31
cents per KWh on the big island of Hawaii.
and that is before all the other Democrat mandated
vote buying subsidies.
My bill is closer to $0.55 per KWh.
Granted my home is in the middle of an ocean and my house doesn’t have central heating or air conditioning. I depend on the Pacific ocean for that. I have blankets for unusually cold days and I can strip down for unusually hot days.
I have to cook with propane as it is cheaper than
an electric stove.
Reading about Mainlander energy problems makes me gag.
Pennsylvania Ping!
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"How did Pennsylvania screw up so badly?"
Four guesses:
1) Ed Rendell
2) Tom Wolf
3) Josh Shapiro
4) ALL OF THE ABOVE
I live in PA.
One word: Democrats.
When it comes to energy, Demonrats have a double plus ungood motive. All economic activity requires energy consumption, and Demonrats hate productive economic activity. It causes them envy and injury to their delusional ego, which they experience as emotional pain and cognitive dissonance. By attacking low cost reliable energy from every angle, they seek to reduce what they believe to be the source of their mental illness.
I think part of the reason is that Pennsylvania is stupid enough to built (and incur ALL the costs) “as needed” generation capacity to be available to provide OTHER STATES (within their grid) with power needed when the sun doesn’t shine and/or the wind doesn’t blow. For peak or intermittent power that other states need from power generated by Pennsylvania sources those other states should be charged rates sufficiently high to recove Pennsylvania’s costs to build that “spare” capacity.
Just sayin’.
Abundant sun
Build a solar farm at home,totally off grid, and you can smile when your neighbors complain about their power bill
Make sure you never tell them why you are smiling.
PA voted for Dems. That’s how they screwed it up.
Also Also Democrat control of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, Democrat legislators, and of course bureaucrats and regulations.
Pennsylvania didn’t vote for this.
Pennsylvania, you want lower electricity prices?
Stop allowing Deep State to select your candidates for you.
And secure your damned elections.
So how is it that Pennsylvanians are still paying more for electricity every year?
Why is anyone? Rates for power are outrageous!
“After near-stagnant growth for 14 years from 2008 to 2021, electricity demand rose by 3.0% (+128 TWh) in 2024, marking a significant acceleration in consumption growth.”[https://solartechonline.com/blog/how-much-electricity-does-us-use-2025-guide/]
That does not justify 45% cost increases.
CO2 isn’t a pollutant, and never was. It was a hoax. Follow the money. Many crony capitalists and China have profited.
It’s not just PA.
The payback is 20 years so solar is a joke. Solar panels are not free.
The author fails to mention that in Pennsylvania, energy companies compete with manufacturers that use natural gas as a feedstock for plastic/polymer production.
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