News & Impact Stories

Pennsylvania Can Bring Down Unaffordable Utility Bills

November 10, 2026 — Press Release

Policymakers Must Adopt Programs to Help Pennsylvanians Stay Connected

HARRISBURG, PA – With utility costs rising and more households than ever facing disconnection, lawmakers must act to protect people from skyrocketing energy prices. Utility insecurity threatens Pennsylvanians’ health, housing stability, food security, and access to education and employment. And while existing programs provide some assistance, enrollment is fragmented, participation is low, and protections are uneven across utility sectors. 

A new issue brief from the National Consumer Law Center and the Pennsylvania Utility Law Project identifies targeted improvements Pennsylvania’s governor and lawmakers must make to improve affordability, streamline enrollment, and increase participation. Even as data centers line up to connect to the electrical grid, the brief, What Pennsylvania Can Do to Improve Energy Affordability, provides actions to keep costs down while protecting customers and the energy system.

“Pennsylvania’s utility policies should make essential service affordable, not push families deeper into debt or leave them without heat, electricity, or running water. Our current system puts too many barriers between eligible households and assistance, while asking residential customers to shoulder nearly all the cost of that help,” said Patrick Cicero, of counsel at the Pennsylvania Utility Law Project, former Consumer Advocate of Pennsylvania, and co-author of  the report. “We need to simplify access to assistance, share costs more fairly across all customer classes, and establish payment and shutoff rules that keep people connected to essential services.”

Assistance is essential to affordability, but it can be difficult to access. While an estimated 1.3 million households—about 25% of Pennsylvania households—had income at or below 150% of the federal poverty level, participation remained far below the estimated need.

“Families need assistance they can actually access, payment plans they can afford, and protections that recognize the dangers of extreme heat, winter cold, and serious illness,” said Elizabeth Marx, Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Utility Law Project. “These reforms are necessary because a system that responds to poverty by disconnecting essential services only deepens the hardship. Pennsylvania must protect access to electricity, heat, water, and sanitation as core foundations of health and housing stability.”

The detailed report, and a concise two-page snapshot outlines priority actions, including:  

  • Modernizing assistance enrollment. Require electric and gas utilities to use one common application and use LIHEAP data for automatic Customer Assistance Program (CAP) enrollment and recertification.
  • Reforming Chapter 56 billing and collection rules consistent with the recommendations of the low-income consumer advocates and Governor Shapiro. Establish longer and more affordable payment arrangements. 
  • Preventing dangerous disconnections. Strengthen winter and summer protections and adopt a summer moratorium from June 1 through August 31 for households at or below 300% of the federal poverty level. 
  • Extend protections across essential services. Apply consistent affordability, universal service, billing, and collection requirements to large jurisdictional water and wastewater utilities. 

“There is no easy fix to the energy affordability crisis,” said Jenifer Bosco, managing director of energy advocacy at the National Consumer Law Center (NCLC). “Utility companies must focus on helping customers stay current on their bills while states require data centers and tech companies to bear the full costs of their power demands.” 

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