Understanding Your Power as a Consumer

Whether it’s Pennsylvania electricity, natural gas, or a combination of the two, your home or business is powered by some sort of energy. Your lights and heating don’t just come on by themselves.

But not everyone understands how the Pennsylvania energy industry works, much less the power you hold as an energy consumer. Thanks to a process called “deregulation,” you have energy choice in Pennsylvania, which means you are in charge of making the energy decisions that are right for you.

The Basics of Energy Choice in Pennsylvania

Thanks to a bit of legislation passed back in 1996, you can select the Pennsylvania energy company that you feel is best for your home or your business. You can shop the marketplace, comparing and contrasting offers from all the companies serving your area, and then sign up for the one you like most.

By speaking with your economic power – “I like what this company offers and not what this one does!” – you tell the energy market (specifically, the companies you didn’t choose) what’s important to you as a consumer, and the market responds by giving you better energy choices in the future.

Even better: if you stop liking the initial company you selected, you can switch to another one! The market is structured to give you the maximum choice!

The Details of Energy Choice

So, what exactly happens when you choose your Pennsylvania energy company? How can you be sure you’ll still have power when you leave one company for another? Thankfully, there are important safeguards in place that preserve your energy choice in Pennsylvania while also ensuring the energy industry operates safely.

The process works like this:

• The power plants generate the energy, whether as natural gas or electricity.
• The utility company for your area transmits and distributes that energy along lines, poles, wires, and pipes.
• That same utility company maintains and repairs the necessary infrastructure.
• The utility company even read the meters and does the billing for all the homes and businesses in the area it serves.
• The energy companies compete to purchase energy on the open market.
• You choose the energy company you like most, based upon the offers you see.

No matter which company you choose, the utility company for your area will always be responsible for getting the power to your home or business – including repairs. You get all the benefits of energy choice, while still enjoying the security of one single company taking care of the physical structures.

Making Your Pennsylvania Energy Choice

So, are you ready to take advantage of energy choice in Pennsylvania for your home or business? We thought you would be! While you have several options available to help you make your choice – including the websites of each energy company that wants to sell you energy – we recommend that newbies to energy choice start with an aggregator site that collects the offers from several companies into one single location.

We recommend taking the following steps as you research the Pennsylvania energy company that’s right for you:

1. Select whether you need power for a home or a business (also known as “residential” and “commercial”)
2. Enter your ZIP code (though some sites recommend entering in your full street address to ensure you see the most accurate rates for your location)
3. Select the search parameters most important to you, with options including price, length of contract term, type of plan (fixed-rate or variable), and more.
4. Narrow down your selections to two or three plans and then visit the website of the companies offering those plans to determine if the offer is authentic and to learn more about the company.
5. Once you find the plan you like, click that Sign Up button – and be sure to have your account number from your utility company handy.

The company you select will talk to your utility company to ensure your switch to the new company will occur seamlessly and with no loss of power. The formal change to your new company won’t happen until after your current billing cycle with your current company concludes, which means it could take 6 to 8 weeks until your new plan goes into effect.

Enjoying Your Energy Choice in Pennsylvania

Once again, the power lies in your hands. If you don’t like the company you selected, you can easily change to a new one – as long as you abide by the terms of your contract (which could include an early termination fee in some cases). But what matters is that you can do what’s best for you, your budget, and your family when it comes to choosing an energy company for your Pennsylvania home.