By Tricia Pursell
Many Valley businesses have to make a crucial decision before the end of the year, when PPL rate caps disappear and electric rates could increase by 30 percent.
Officials from Keystone Forging Co., in Northumberland, met last week with officials from PPL as part of their investigation into different rates.
According to President Joe Cipriani, Keystone is still examining its options to decide which electric carrier with which to contract next year.
“Right now, we’re working on getting specifics — whether we want to go with a contracted rate or a market rate,” Cipriani said. “We’ve enjoyed some pretty good rates.”
Much of that is due to the company being an interruptible agency, meaning it can be forced to reduce its power levels or even shut down during peak energy hours, thus allowing the power company to supply energy to other customers.
Usually, such requests are made during hot summer days or extremely cold weather, Cipriani said.
As a customer of Citizen’s Electric, based in Lewisburg, Playworld Systems Inc. faced an approximate 30-percent increase in electricity rates when deregulation occurred more than a year ago.
At that time, the company did not take any action to pay ahead or defer its payments, said Jerry Wert, director of facilities at Playworld. “But we had been working toward reducing our energy usage,” he said.
Though these environmental strides did not make a huge impact on the costs of electricity, Wert said they were fortunate to see their rates through Citizen’s Electric drop three times.
Local chambers of commerce have been preparing their members for the inevitable rise in energy costs.
The Greater Susquehanna Valley Chamber of Commerce sends out an electronic newsletter every two weeks. A breakfast seminar led by SEDA-Council of Government’s Energy Resource Center will be held Nov. 6 at The Country Cupboard; business leaders will also be able to meet and talk with several local suppliers and brokers of electricity, said Dawn Raszcewski, director of communications and resources for the chamber.
PPL presented its ideas at one of its monthly meetings.
“We’re educating our members about the choices they have,” Raszcewski said.
A legislative breakfast series featured an energy summit last November that focused on solar power and other alternative sources of energy.
“We made sure we’ve kept members abreast,” said Maria Culp, president and chief executive officer of the Central Pennsylvania Chamber of Commerce.
“Conservation helps,” she said.
PPL announced on Thursday a dozen new incentive programs that will be offered to its 1.4 million customers in the coming months. Options will include everything from rebates to energy-efficient equipment to expanded home weatherization services for eligible customers.
“It’s important for everyone to understand those issues,” Culp said. “Everything you can do to help your heating and cooling units operate at peak performance.”
But despite all efforts in energy conservation, the increase in electric costs are not going to be escaped by all businesses and corporations. Customers, in particular, may bear the brunt of the costs.
“Most businesses are trying to avoid that,” Raszcewski said. “It’s a last resort. There’s enough they can do that they don’t have to result to that.”
“Usually most people will absorb that in some way and pass that on,” Culp said. “Overhead costs — everybody’s got them, and everyone is trying to control them or reduce them.”
As in the days when gas prices skyrocketed, we may see again that people tend to consolidate and buy less, Culp said.
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