Penelec (FirstEnergy) Price to Compare & rate increases

Price to Compare (current rate)

13.143¢/kWh

Effective June 1, 2026 (current) · last reviewed July 19, 2026

Estimate for comparison — confirm the current rate and all charges with Penelec (FirstEnergy) before acting. Not advice.

Next scheduled reset: September 1, 2026 (typical schedule — confirm before acting) · Quarterly (Mar, Jun, Sep, Dec 1). Every utility's reset calendar →

Of the 7 Pennsylvania utilities we track, Penelec (FirstEnergy)'s Price to Compare is the 4th-lowest — the range runs from 11.759¢ (PECO Energy) to 14.14¢ (Duquesne Light). Compare all Pennsylvania rates →

What it means: a Penelec (FirstEnergy) customer on a 17¢/kWh third-party supplier rate pays about $400 more per year than the Price to Compare (13.143¢), 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 11.81¢/kWh — with no monthly fee and no cancellation fee. Offers between 11.81¢ and 13.143¢ technically "beat" the Price to Compare but save too little to justify contract risk. The full math, all utilities →

Penelec (FirstEnergy) customer service & quick facts

The official ways to reach Penelec (FirstEnergy) for outages, billing, and account help. RateWatchdog is independent and not affiliated with Penelec (FirstEnergy) — these are the utility's own channels.

Customer service

1-800-545-7741

Mon–Fri 8am–6pm (automated line 24/7)

Report a power outage

1-888-544-4877

Live outage map →

Pay your bill

Pay Penelec (FirstEnergy) bill online →

Start, stop, or move service

Start / stop service →

Verified June 15, 2026 · confirm on Penelec (FirstEnergy)'s siteHere to check if your rate is too high? Jump to the audit ↓

Is Penelec (FirstEnergy) a monopoly? Can you switch?

For delivery, yes — it's a monopoly. Penelec (FirstEnergy) 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: Penelec (FirstEnergy), owned by FirstEnergy, 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 Penelec (FirstEnergy)'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 Penelec (FirstEnergy)'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.

For Penelec (FirstEnergy), major storms drove roughly 45% 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, Penelec (FirstEnergy) is the least 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.

FirstEnergy reports Met-Ed, Penelec, Penn Power, and West Penn as one combined company ("FirstEnergy Pennsylvania Electric Company") starting with 2024 data, so this figure covers all four together.

Source: U.S. EIA Form EIA-861, 2024 reliability data (IEEE 1366 standard), for FirstEnergy Pennsylvania Electric Co. eia.gov →

How often does Penelec (FirstEnergy) 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.

That's the highest 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)).

Reported under the combined "FirstEnergy Pennsylvania Electric Company" (Met-Ed, Penelec, Penn Power, and West Penn together), so this figure covers all four.

Counts disconnection events — one household can be shut off more than once. From Penelec (FirstEnergy)'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 Penelec (FirstEnergy) earns its profit

Because Penelec (FirstEnergy) 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.

Penelec (FirstEnergy) is owned by FirstEnergy. In 2024, FirstEnergy reported about $978 million in net income — its profit across all of the utilities it owns, not Penelec (FirstEnergy) alone. Source: FirstEnergy's annual report (SEC Form 10-K, fiscal year 2024). SEC EDGAR →

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.