Driving Down Rates
John Hanger served as a Pennsylvania Public Utility Commissioner for five years before serving under two Pennsylvania Democratic Governors in their administrations as a Secretary of Environmental Protection and a Secretary of Planning and Policy.
Thanks to a decision made in 1996 to adopt electricity competition, Pennsylvania electricity consumers saved in 2024 an average of forty-six percent on supply costs when compared to the inflation-adjusted 1996 prices, as I document in my latest white paper: “Pennsylvania’s Continued Success: Competition Maintains Low Electric Prices for All Residents.”
At the time, the decision had many unknowns and was bound to impact countless people. The uneasy feelings at that time were understandable; not knowing whether the decisions were going to deliver desired outcomes.
As a former Pennsylvania Public Utility Commissioner from 1993-1998, there were many ideas that came before the Commission that required action, particularly within the energy sector.
Leading up to and through the mid-’90s, Pennsylvania residents were experiencing rolling blackouts and high electric rates. Local monopoly utilities were heavily investing in new electric generation with captive ratepayers.
In the early ’90s, Pennsylvania electric rates were fifteen percent higher than the national average with Philadelphia and Pittsburgh residential electricity prices among the ten highest in the country. Energy demand was on the rise and the Commission needed to act with a decision that was going to support and protect energy users. The decision we made was to restructure the electricity market in 1996.