PECO Electric Utility Unbiased About PA Electric Choice

You would think that PA's largest electric utility would want to hold on to their 1.6 million electricity customers but in reality they really do not care.

Although they will continue to lose their retail side to their business to alternative electric companies in the state that have moved in to compete they will still be the pole and wires company forever. Think about it, you will never have more than one electric line coming to your home or business and this is why PECO will never really go away.

Now that the electric utility has been broken up by the government of Pennsylvania you will see more and more that PECO is primarily in the business of creating electricity and maintaining the pole and wires rather than in retail sales.

PECO will continue to be paid by all electric service customers in their utility footprint regardless of the retail energy provider chosen. They will always be the electricity generator and the pole and wires company and this should be seen as their primary role going forward.

You can choose to stay with PECO to provide retail electricity service but customer choice is something PECO encourages you to do in unison with the state of Pennsylvania.

Beyond PECO's electric service customers they also have about 500,000 natural gas customers. When PECO is not selling natural gas directly to their customers they are using it to generate electricity for the city of Philadelphia during peak demand times in the day.

This electric utility has been around for over 100 years and has primarily served the greater Philadelphia area. During the utility's time in the state they have created several low-income assistance programs and have averaged charitable contributions of about $7 million dollars per year.

PECO is recognized as the safest electric utility in the state of Pennsylvania by the US department of labor. This utility has also received safety awards from the Energy Association of PA and the American Gas Association.

last time modified: Sept. 21, 2011, 8:28 p.m.