Pennsylvania · electric utility
Duquesne Light Price to Compare & rate increases
Duquesne Light is a DQE Holdings (privately held) utility serving Pittsburgh and southwestern PA (Allegheny and Beaver counties) (about 600,000 customers). Its roots trace to the Allegheny County Light Company, in the Pittsburgh area where George Westinghouse pioneered alternating-current power — and it's one of the few PA electric utilities not owned by a large multi-state holding company. (source)
Price to Compare (current rate)
14.14¢/kWh
Effective (current) · last reviewed
Estimate for comparison — confirm the current rate and all charges with Duquesne Light before acting. Not advice.
Next scheduled reset: (typical schedule — confirm before acting) · Twice a year (Jun 1 and Dec 1). Every utility's reset calendar →
Of the 7 Pennsylvania utilities we track, Duquesne Light's Price to Compare is the highest — the range runs from 11.759¢ (PECO Energy) to 14.14¢ (Duquesne Light). Compare all Pennsylvania rates →
What it means: a Duquesne Light customer on a 17¢/kWh third-party supplier rate pays about $300 more per year than the Price to Compare (14.14¢), based on ~860 kWh/month. The audit below checks your actual rate.
The worth-it line: for a switch to save at least $10/month at ~750 kWh, a supplier offer must be a fixed rate below 12.81¢/kWh — with no monthly fee and no cancellation fee. Offers between 12.81¢ and 14.14¢ technically "beat" the Price to Compare but save too little to justify contract risk. The full math, all utilities →
Duquesne Light customer service & quick facts
The official ways to reach Duquesne Light for outages, billing, and account help. RateWatchdog is independent and not affiliated with Duquesne Light — these are the utility's own channels.
- Pay your bill
- Pay Duquesne Light bill online →
- Start, stop, or move service
- Start / stop service →
Verified · confirm on Duquesne Light's siteHere to check if your rate is too high? Jump to the audit ↓
Is your supplier charging more?
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Where is this on my bill?
On your bill, find the supply rate in ¢/kWh. Your utility's standard rate is the “Price to Compare.” If your supplier charges more than that, you're overpaying.
Comparing suppliers against Duquesne Light's Price to Compare?
Pennsylvania's official comparison tool is PA Power Switch, run by the PA PUC. Pennsylvania's official comparison tool shows every licensed supplier's offer next to your utility's Price to Compare — our guide covers all 7 PA utility PTCs and the fine print to check.
How to use PA Power Switch — the full guide →Is Duquesne Light a monopoly? Can you switch?
For delivery, yes — it's a monopoly. Duquesne Light is the only company that runs the poles and wires to homes in its territory, so you can't pick a different company to deliver your power. That part is a regulated monopoly: Duquesne Light, owned by DQE Holdings (privately held), can only charge what the PA PUC approves in a rate case.
The electricity itself, though, is open to competition. You can buy your supply from a third-party supplier, or do nothing and stay on Duquesne Light's default rate — the Price to Compare the PA PUC oversees. Switching suppliers doesn't change who delivers your power or who you call during an outage; it only changes the supply line on your bill. And if a supplier is charging more than the Price to Compare, you can drop it and return to that regulated rate, usually within one or two billing cycles — no fee to the utility.
How often does Duquesne Light's power go out?
Federal reliability data, reported by the utility to the U.S. government. SAIDI is the average total time a customer is without power in a year; SAIFI is the average number of outages.
In 2024, including major storms
3 hr 8 min
without power, across about 1 outages
What the average customer actually experienced.
On a typical day (storms excluded)
2 hr 7 min
without power, across about 0.8 outages
Normal operations, with major event days removed.
For Duquesne Light, major storms drove roughly 32% of 2024's total outage time — the gap between the two numbers above is weather the utility couldn't fully control.
On normal-day reliability, Duquesne Light is the 3rd-most reliable of the 4 Pennsylvania utilities we track — the range runs from 1 hr (PECO Energy) to 3 hr 41 min (Met-Ed (FirstEnergy)) of typical-day outage time per year.
Source: U.S. EIA Form EIA-861, 2024 reliability data (utility's reported standard), for Duquesne Light Co. eia.gov →
How often does Duquesne Light disconnect customers for nonpayment?
Utilities report this to the federal government. It counts residential service disconnected for unpaid bills. A high rate isn't proof of wrongdoing — it's shaped by local poverty, climate, and how strong a state's shutoff-protection rules are, as much as by the utility itself.
Disconnections in 2024
26,746
times Duquesne Light disconnected residential customers for nonpayment
Per 100 households
4.9
disconnections for every 100 residential customers it serves
That's the lowest disconnection rate of the 3 Pennsylvania utilities we track — the range runs from 4.9 per 100 (Duquesne Light) to 5 per 100 (Met-Ed (FirstEnergy)).
Counts disconnection events — one household can be shut off more than once. From Duquesne Light's own filings to the U.S. EIA (Form EIA-112, Residential Utility Disconnections Survey), first collected for 2024. eia.gov →
Where your bill money goes: how Duquesne Light earns its profit
Because Duquesne Light is a regulated monopoly, its profit isn't set by competing for customers — it's set by regulators. The PA PUC authorizes a target return on equity (around 9.5% to 10.5% for U.S. electric utilities) on the money it sinks into poles, wires, substations, and meters. It's a target, not a guarantee — a utility can earn above or below it — but a low-risk regulated monopoly reliably lands close. You pay that return back, plus the investment itself, through the delivery charge on every bill.
Duquesne Light's owner, DQE Holdings, is privately held, so it doesn't publicly report its profits the way the investor-owned utilities filed with the SEC do.
That authorized return is set by regulators on the utility's investment — independently of how reliable the service is or how many customers are disconnected, the two measures above.
Rate cases & increases
- R-2024-3046523 effective
Duquesne Light's most recent base distribution rate case. The PA PUC approved a settlement on Nov. 7, 2024 cutting the request roughly in half, to a net $53 million increase; a typical residential customer using 600 kWh saw their monthly bill rise about $5.21 (from $130.67 to $135.88, 3.99%). New rates took effect Jan. 1, 2025.
Common questions about Duquesne Light
- What is the Duquesne Light electricity rate per kWh?
- Duquesne Light's Price to Compare (PTC) — the default supply rate for customers not on a competitive supplier — is 14.14¢/kWh as of June 1, 2026, per the PA PUC. This is Pennsylvania's highest default supply rate among the four major utilities. Delivery and distribution charges are additional. Verify current figures at papowerswitch.com.
- Can I switch from Duquesne Light to save money on electricity?
- Yes — Pennsylvania's electricity market is deregulated. Duquesne Light's Price to Compare of 14.14¢/kWh is the highest of the PA utilities, which means more competitive supplier offers are likely to undercut it. Use PA Power Switch at papowerswitch.com to compare licensed EGS offers against DLC's current PTC. Look for fixed-rate offers with no cancellation fee and no monthly charge — those are the cleanest comparisons.
- Why is my Duquesne Light bill so high?
- Duquesne Light carries Pennsylvania's highest Price to Compare at 14.14¢/kWh for supply — driven by wholesale market conditions in the Pittsburgh load zone. On the delivery side, DLC's distribution rate cases set the delivery charges. A bill at 750 kWh averages roughly $105+ in supply alone, before delivery. Options: shop for a competitive supplier at papowerswitch.com, apply for LIHEAP or DLC's Smart Comfort assistance program if income-qualified, or pursue weatherization through Pennsylvania's WRAP.
Why Duquesne Light has Pennsylvania's highest Price to Compare
Duquesne Light's Price to Compare is 14.14¢/kWh (effective June 1, 2026) — the highest default supply rate of Pennsylvania's seven utilities (next: Met-Ed 13.954¢, PPL 13.079¢, PECO 11.759¢; verified July 2026). The PTC is a wholesale supply pass-through — what Duquesne pays on the market to buy electricity for customers who haven't chosen their own supplier.
Duquesne's higher-than-average PTC reflects its relatively small customer base and geographic concentration in the Pittsburgh load zone, where wholesale market dynamics differ from the broader PJM system. A higher PTC also creates more opportunity for competitive supplier offers to undercut it — which means shopping is potentially more valuable for DLC customers than for customers of utilities with lower default rates.
The 2.8% increase in June 2026 (from 13.75¢ to 14.14¢) was modest by recent standards — per the PA PUC summer 2026 supply change announcement.
Can Duquesne Light customers switch to a competitive supplier?
Yes — Pennsylvania deregulated electricity in 1999. Duquesne Light customers can shop for a competitive electric generation supplier (EGS) at PA Power Switch (papowerswitch.com). The benchmark is the current Price to Compare — 14.14¢/kWh. Any EGS fixed-rate offer below that, with no monthly fee and a reasonable cancellation policy, provides genuine supply savings.
Duquesne's higher PTC means the math is more likely to work out for Pittsburgh customers than for, say, PECO customers. But variable-rate EGS offers can move above the PTC mid-contract — always verify the rate type and term before switching.
Duquesne Light service territory
Duquesne Light (DLC) serves Pittsburgh and its southwestern Pennsylvania suburbs — a compact, dense service territory that's one of the few large PA utilities not owned by a major multi-state holding company.
- ▸ Core coverage: Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, and Beaver County
- ▸ Anchored by Pittsburgh's urban core, its North Shore/South Side neighborhoods, and suburban municipalities from Sewickley to McKeesport
- ▸ 600,000 electric customers across two counties
- ▸ Privately held under DQE Holdings — not publicly traded, no PJM zone of its own; part of the APS zone
Source: Duquesne Light — about us
What does a Duquesne Light bill look like?
ESTIMATE — see note below.
| Bill component | At 750 kWh/month |
|---|---|
| Supply / generation (14.14¢/kWh) | $106.05 |
| Delivery, transmission & other riders | see note → |
⚠ Supply charge only — Duquesne Light Price to Compare 14.14¢/kWh (effective June 1, 2026; source: PA PUC). Delivery and distribution charges (~3–5¢/kWh) are additional. Duquesne has Pennsylvania's highest default supply rate. Verify current PTC at papowerswitch.com.
Duquesne Light rate alerts
Email alerts for Duquesne Light are coming soon — we're setting them up with double opt-in and one-click unsubscribe, and we'll never sell your data. For now, this page and the Pennsylvania hub track every active rate case.