FirstEnergy Pennsylvania, which includes West Penn Power, wants to raise its basic electric rates approved by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission.
If the commission approves the plan, the new rates will start on June 1, according to information from First Energy.
Normal West Penn residential customers using 1,000 kilowatt-hours per month would see a 10.6% increase in their bill. The total increase request for West Penn is $169 million.
A business customer using 40 kilowatts for 250 hours would have a 4.6% increase. An industrial customer using 20 megawatts for 474 hours would have a 0.3% increase.
West Penn Power serves about 746,000 customers in 24 Pennsylvania counties.
President of FirstEnergy Pennsylvania operations Scott Wyman said the extra money would be used for investments in the energy grid and a program targeting 2.4 million trees over 10 years that encroach on equipment.
He said in a statement, “This rate proposal balances the need to invest in the system while helping keep electric bills comparable to other utilities in the state.”
If the rate proposal is approved for all of FirstEnergy’s four utilities in Pennsylvania, the company expects to bring in an additional $502 million.
The last rate increase was in 2017.
