Customers of the electricity utility company Duquesne Light can save big money on their electric bill by shopping for lower electricity rates.  Duquesne Light, which serves the Pittsburgh and surrounding areas, raised their price to compare rates in January 2011.  The price to compare rate is the electric default rate that the state of Pennsylvania mandates Duquesne charge their customers who have not chosen a competitive supplier.

With Pennsylvania now a fully deregulated electricity state, Duquesne Light is now just the local electricity delivery company.  Residential electricity customers in the Pittsburgh area can save as much as 19% on their electric bills by signing a fixed electric rate with a competitive supplier.  Customers will still receive their monthly bill from Duquesne Light, the only difference will be that instead of paying the high default rate of 8.89 cents per kilowatt hour, they can pay a rate as low as 7.19 cents.

As of January 2011, 21.3% of Duquesne residential customers have switched electric suppliers.  That number is expected to increase as the saving potential for these customers has recently increased.

Check out current competitive electricity rates in the Duquesne Light area:

The Atlantic City Electric company, the electricity utility company serving the majority of southern New Jersey, has the highest electric default rates in the country among utilities serving electricity deregulated markets.  Current residents serviced by Atlantic City Electric who have not chosen a competitive electric supplier for the supply portion of their energy usage, are paying the Atlantic City Electric price to compare rate of 13.15 cents per kilowatt hour.

Customers can save 13% by paying a fixed rate of 11.40 cents per kilowatt hour.  The offer also includes a Visa Prepaid Gift Card.

Despite the large savings available for Atlantic City Electric residential customers, well under 10% of them have switched electric suppliers to companies offering lower electric rates.  Much of the resistence is centered around the unfamiliarity that New Jersyans have with electricity choice.  Most people might be surprised to find out that the Atlantic City Electric company supports energy choice and wants their customers to shop for lower rates. Those who switch electric suppliers will still receive their electric bill from Atlantic City Electric.  The only thing that changes is the Atlantic City Electric price to compare rate, or default rate, is replaced by the rate offered by the electric supplier of the customer’s choice.

Here are current competitive electric rates:

Philadelphia electricity users are customers of PECO energy, who provides electric supply service as well as electric delivery service for businesses and households in the city.  While PECO energy will remain the electric delivery company for these electric users, many customers will change their electric supply company in 2011 when PECO’s capped rates expire.

Starting January 1, 2011, commercial and industrial energy users in Philadelphia who do not choose an alternative energy company to supply their electricity needs will be on the PECO default electric rates.  Most businesses in Philadelphia will find in advantageous to shop and compare Pennsylvania electricity companies.

Large Commercial and Industrial electricity users in the PECO territory (whose KW demand is greater than 500KW) will pay a default price to compare rate of $0.0897 per kilowatt hour, if they elected to go with the fixed default electric rate.  If they did not elect for the fixed default rate, they will be forced to ride the volatile hourly ahead market rates.  Large electricity users in Philadelphia have bee offered fixed electric rates of $0.072 in recent weeks, a price 19.8 percent less than the PECO price to compare default rate.

Small and medium commercial customers in PECO will not know their exact price to compare rate until later in the year.  It is estimated it will be between $0.09 and $0.095 per KWh in 2011.  The number of electricity companies offering competitive rates to these customers will increase as 2011 approaches.  Savings are expected to be between 8-15% off of the price to compare default rates.

Update:  We have received numerous reports from our partners at Electric Rate that businesses are seeing significant savings with competitive peco commercial rates for contracts starting in 2011.

If you are looking for competitive electric rates for your home, we would recommend the below:

Jersey Central Power and Light (JCPL) electricity customers are seeing some of the lowest electric rates since the utility deregulated back in 2003.

The basic generation service, the JCPL default rate, will be $0.110285 per kilowatt hour from October 1, 2010 through May 31, 2011 for small and medium businesses.  From now through the end of September it will be even higher at $0.115462.  Solid 10-15% exist for these businesses who shop and compare commercial electric companies.

Meanwhile, New Jersey residential electric customers in JCPL are paying high default rates of $0.1172 a kilowatt hour.  For the first time since 2003, these electricity customers can save money by finding a lower electric rate through a competitive electric company.

Residential and business customers can find their current default electric rates on their JCPL bill at the top next to BGS Energy Charges and BGS Transmission Charges.  The combination of these two charges make up the total price to compare default rate.  When you choose a lower priced electric provider, their low electric rate will take the place of those two charges.

Depending on the electricity company, you will continue to receive one monthly electric bill from JCPL with the lower rate, or you might receive a bill from the electricity company for the supply charges and one from JCPL for the delivery charges.  Either way, you will save money as long as you sign for a electric rate that is lower than the JCPL BGS default electric rate.

Commercial and industrial electric rates change on a daily basis.  For a list of low commercial electric rates in New Jersey email us with the request and we will email you back a list of electricity companies and their electric rates.

States that have decided to deregulate, or restructure, their electricity utilities are giving their consumers the opportunity to lower their electric bills.  Misunderstanding how to lower the electric bill has been a problem for some of these electric rate payers.

As a simple review, the electric bill is divided into two main sections; the delivery (lines and wires) section and the retail supply section.  The delivery section is the portion of the bill, usually between 20-30% of the total charge, that is paid to the utility company for delivering the power through the lines and wires.  These charges are still regulated by the state.

The energy charge, also called supply charge, makes up the majority of the bill and is the section that has been deregulated.  It is here where customers can lower their electric bill by finding an alternative electric company that will supply electric power at a lower price per kilowatt hour than the current default electric rate that the incumbent utility offers.

Most default rates are set for a specific period of time.  You can lower your electric bill by finding out how long the default rate will be at a certain amount per kilowatt hour and then finding an alternative provider who will offer a lower electric rate for that period.  For example, the default rate for customers who are served by the utility PPL in Pennsylvania is $0.10402 per kilowatt hour for the entire year of 2010.  Locking in a fixed rate of $0.09 per kilowatt for any period in 2010 will give the customer a lower electric bill by 13.5% off of the energy supply portion of the bill.  It might be wise to lock in a low electric rate for a period that goes beyond the expiration of the current default rate if you think energy prices are headed up.

States where you can currently lower your electric bill against the utility default rate include Pennsylvania, Connecticut, New Jersey, Maryland and Delaware.  There are also saving available in Texas if you have not shopped the competitive electric market within the past two years.