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HARRISBURG – The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission approved plans submitted by five major electric and natural gas utilities to return more than $64 million in tax savings associated with the federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 to over 2 million Pennsylvania consumers and businesses.
The additional tax savings will be refunded to customers between now and the end of the year.
The Commission voted 3-0 on June 16 to approve petitions filed by Pennsylvania Power Company (Penn Power), West Penn Power Company (West Penn Power), Pennsylvania Electric Company (Penelec), Metropolitan Edison Company (Met-Ed) – which collectively serve approximately 2 million customers across Pennsylvania – along with the Peoples Gas Company (Peoples Gas) – which provides service to more than 63,000 residents and businesses in western Pennsylvania.
All the plans approved by the PUC will distribute excess deferred income taxes associated with the federal tax cuts act, which will be refunded to consumers as a “negative surcharge” – or credit – on monthly customer bills. This is the same mechanism already being used by these utilities to return savings from the federal tax cuts act. The additional funds will be included in monthly bill credits starting in July and continuing through December 2022.
Added Tax Savings for Customers
The PUC orders direct the following amounts of additional federal tax savings to be returned to utility customers:
- Penn Power – $5 million
- West Penn Power – $15.2 million
- Penelec – $26.8 million
- Met-Ed – $16.3 million
- Peoples Gas – $939,925
In each of these cases, customers will see an increase in the negative surcharge on their monthly bills for the remainder of this year.
