3 utilities compared · 7 plans · 1,069 ZIP codes
Electricity rates in Pennsylvania
Not a state average. The same household, priced hour by hour for a year on the default plan at each utility we cover here — so the differences below are differences in the tariffs, not in how much anyone used.
What a year of electricity costs in Pennsylvania
| Household | Uses | Median, per year | Cheapest utility | Dearest utility |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apartment One or two people, no central air, no electric heat | 4,866 kWh | $1,201 | $1,062 | $1,247 |
| Family home Three or four people with central air conditioning | 9,453 kWh | $2,204 | $1,888 | $2,276 |
| Home with an EV Same house, plus an electric car charging overnight | 13,103 kWh | $3,003 | $2,545 | $3,095 |
Median and range across the 3 utilities, each on the plan a household lands on by default. Estimates for comparing utilities against each other, not a prediction of any one bill; they exclude taxes, local surcharges and demand charges.
How much does where you live inside Pennsylvania matter?
Run the same three-bedroom house with central air through the default residential plan at each of the 3 utilities we cover in Pennsylvania, and the yearly bill lands between $1,888 at PPL Electric Utilities and $2,276 at Duquesne Light; the median is $2,204. That $388 gap is for identical electricity, and it is set by nothing you chose: which utility's territory the house stands in. You cannot switch utilities. What you can do is make sure you are on the right plan at yours.
The utility is fixed by your address; the plan is not. At Duquesne Light, the cheapest and dearest of its 3 comparable plans are $232 a year apart for the same house — less than the gap between utilities, but it is the one lever that is actually yours to pull.
1 of the 3 utilities files at least one plan priced by the hour (1 plans in all). If yours is one of them, shifting when you use power is worth real money; if not, only the total matters and the plan list is short.
Pennsylvania has retail choice: you can buy the supply half of your bill from a competing supplier while the utility still delivers it. The figures on this page price the utility's own default supply, which is what you pay if you never shopped. A third-party offer replaces only that part — the delivery charges and the fixed charge stay with the utility whatever you sign.
Utility by utility
Cheapest first, for the family home. The last two columns are where the money is: how far the default plan sits from the cheapest one the same utility files.
| Utility | Plans | Default plan, a year | Cheapest plan | By the hour |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PPL Electric Utilities RS (Residential Service) | 1 | $1,888 | only plan | — |
| PECO Energy Residential Service (R) | 3 | $2,204 | $2,076 | 1 plan |
| Duquesne Light Residential Service | 3 | $2,276 | $2,044 | — |
Before you compare anything
- Delivery vs. supply on your electric bill
Half your bill is a service you cannot shop for. Knowing which half matters.
- How to compare electricity plans without getting it wrong
Six things that break a comparison, and the order to check them in.
- Electricity rates by state: what the filed tariffs actually say
Median rates from the tariffs themselves, not a state-level average.