Investor-owned utilities in Pennsylvania have filed their retail electric competition plans with the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission to comply with recent legislation requiring customer-choice pilots for 5 percent of the peak load of the state's electric utilities.
PECO Energy Co. has filed a proposed electric choice retail pilot program that would allow about 90,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers to choose their electric suppliers as soon as October and no later than January 1998. The pilot would conclude in December 1998 and is believed to be the largest in the nation. If approved by the PUC, the pilot would begin in April. A neutral third party will randomly select the 90,000 customers who would participate in the pilot.
Eligible PECO Energy customers will include 5 percent from Philadelphia, and 5 percent from suburban counties across all major rate classes. Randomly selected commercial and industrial customers in state-created Enterprise Zones also will be eligible. Competition would affect about 480 MW of power. The electricity would be delivered over PECO transmission and distribution lines.
GPU Energy has filed its proposal, "PowerFuture," to enable about 51,000 customers to pick their electric supplier. Power deliveries would begin at the end of this year. Five percent of GPU Energy's peak load, or about 194-MW, would be eligible for the program. GPU's subsidiaries will divide the load as follows: Metropolitan Edison, 98 MW and Pennsylvania Electric, 96 MW.