Rate Cap Measure Could Move

Days after declaring the effort all but dead, Pennsylvania House Democratic leaders say they'll make a final push to pass a bill cushioning the impact of expiring electric rate caps.
PPL's rate caps come off on January 1st, which means central and northeastern Pennsylvania consumers might see their bills go up by thirty percent. Other companies' restrictions expire in 211.
A House bill that would phase in those increases hasn't seen any action since April, but Bob Caton, a spokesman for Speaker Keith McCall, says Democrats will try to pass it and send it to the Senate before the new year.
Caton says an amendment will ditch the bill's 20 percent cap on increases.

"There is no set percentage. It would just have to be broken up into three equal annual pieces. This way the people who are looking at their rates possibly going up would be able to plan for it a little better. They would be able to absorb the blow more easily and be able to plan for their economic future."

Governor Rendell says he supports the effort.
"We still need to do it. We still cannot rely on the fact that rates are low now, and therefore there's no immediacy to this problem. That can flip--we've seen it flip with a hurricane. We've seen it flip with international conditions. So we need to do something about what happens when the caps come off."

If the bill became law, a 15 percent increase could be be divided into three five percent hikes. Customers would have to pay interest on the deferred payments, though, so some industry experts say the program might not be worth the effort.
Electric Power Generation Association general counsel Terry Fitzpatrick equates the option to a loan customers would be taking out to pay their bills.