PULP ED Testifies Before the Senate Democratic Policy Committee on Lowering Electric Bills
On June 23, 2026, Elizabeth Marx, Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Utility Law Project (PULP), testified before the Senate Democratic Policy Committee at a policy hearing examining solutions to lower consumer electric bills. The hearing was hosted by Senate Democratic Policy Committee Chair Nick Miller (D-14), alongside Senator Kane and Senator Malone.
Ms. Marx’s testimony outlined the severe and worsening energy affordability crisis in Pennsylvania, where electric rates have risen 18–52% (depending on the electric company) since December 2024, contributing to a record 387,000 household utility shutoffs in 2025. She identified five primary drivers of rising utility costs: data center load growth, consumer abuses in the residential retail energy market (or energy “shopping” for alternative suppliers), increasing Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) exports that force residents to compete on the world market for locally-extracted gas, excessive utility profits enabled by high returns on equity for utility company shareholders, and alternative rate mechanisms that shift business risk from utility companies to residential customers.
To address these overlapping crises, she urges the legislature to require data centers to bear the infrastructure and assistance program costs they cause, reform or eliminate the residential retail energy market, adopt prevention-based billing and collections standards, strengthen protections against utility shutoffs, cap returns on equity at actual market cost, streamline energy efficiency programs, and establish state funding for LIHEAP so it can operate year-round without full dependence on federal dollars.
“There are a multitude of factors driving electricity price increases in Pennsylvania, though there is one consistent theme: While Pennsylvania energy consumers struggle profoundly to keep up with rising electricity rates, energy companies are earning record profits. This dynamic has to end. ”
You can watch the testimony via the recording below (beginning at 1:10:05) and read the testimony in its entirety here.