By PATRICIA FENNELL-PEAKS

Throughout my 40-year customer service career at PECO, I’ve spent countless hours on the phone with PECO customers. I know they count on our service to stay comfortable and connected at home and at work. On a daily basis, I speak with customers struggling with the strain of higher bills. Even small changes in expenses can be difficult to manage, which is why PECO is working to enhance energy affordability and reliability.

Hearing these stories is why addressing energy costs is personal to me and my coworkers at PECO.

We’re taking a two-pronged approach to bringing costs down. We’re providing immediate relief to customers struggling with higher energy bills. Simultaneously, we’re investing in long-term solutions designed to address the root cause of increased costs — a supply of energy that is rapidly reducing.

This approach will help our customers, while building a stronger energy future for the state of Pennsylvania. Achieving this goal will require action, not just from companies like ours but government leaders as well.

Two-Pronged Attack

PECO is providing financial support to households in need through The PECO Customer Relief Fund – a $10 million initiative, entirely shareholder-funded, as a direct response to rising energy costs during the high usage summer period. The fund is supporting thousands of households throughout Southeastern Pennsylvania with credits on qualifying customers’ bills.

As we work to address core challenges that are contributing to higher costs, we’re listening to customers who need help with higher bills today.

But relief can only go so far. We need solutions to the real driver of higher costs – a supply shortage intensified by growing demand and an aging generation ecosystem.

Successful, lasting solutions will require addressing the rising costs and inadequacies of our current electricity supply model. The current generation system hasn’t kept pace with demand from data centers and extreme weather and temperatures, leaving customers exposed to volatile prices. We’ve seen supply price increases of 13% in just the past year and record high capacity payments, growing by 833%.

Although PECO does not control these prices and passes them through to customers at-cost, we are committed to solutions and safeguards that ensure the least expensive electricity supply.

Considering

All Options

Pennsylvania and the broader PJM region are facing a critical challenge: the competitive energy market is not responding adequately to the growing need for new generation. If this trend continues, rising demand will eventually outpace supply – forcing grid operators to implement rolling blackouts to preserve system stability. That is a scenario we must avoid at all costs.

To ensure reliability and protect our customers, we need a robust contingency plan – one that considers every available option. This includes regulated generation, long-term power purchase agreements, distributed energy resources like battery storage, and more. An all of the above approach will help ensure utilities can meet the growing energy demands of customers and deliver the energy our communities depend on, especially when it matters most.

Contrary to what some others may claim, these approaches would complement the current energy generation market, not replace it.

With these approaches, we will ensure competition actually can deliver new, affordable supply, all under the oversight of state regulators.

Families and businesses in Pennsylvania don’t need finger-pointing. They need affordable, reliable energy today – and certainty for tomorrow. That’s exactly what we’re working toward at PECO every day.

Patricia Fennell-Peaks is customer care manager at PECO.