How to Sign up for Green Energy in Southeast Pennsylvania if your Utility Company is PECO

Steps:

1. Know your options: The following companies are green power providers for the Southeastern PA area:

• CleanChoice Energy
• The Energy Co-operative
• Green Mountain Energy
• Groundswell
• Inspire Energy
• WGL Energy

2. Look at the available plans for each company by clicking on the links above to view each company’s plans or by using the cheat sheet (last updated July 4, 2023) for wind, solar, and hydropower plans below:

Wind and solar plans for Southeast PA, from lowest kWh pricing to highest kWh pricing

3. Identify your current kwh (kilowatt-hour) unit price by going to page two of your PECO bill. Under “Message Center,” there is a sentence, “Your electric price to compare is X cents per kwh.” Compare this number with the kwh unit price in each green energy plan. Compare this number with the kwh unit price in each green energy plan.

If you want to compare annual and monthly costs, the steps are below — just a little simple math.

• Identify your annual kWh usage. On page two of your PECO bill, under “Your Usage Profile,” you’ll see “Total Annual kWh usage.”
• Identify your current kWh (kilowatt-hour) unit price by going to page two of your PECO bill. Under “Message Center,” there is a sentence, “Your electric price to compare is X cents per kWh.” Note the “PECO Electric Delivery” costs and “Taxes and Fees” (page 2 of your PECO bill) will not change if you switch. The “Electric Supply” costs (page 2 of your PECO bill) will change if you switch.
• Multiply your annual kWh usage by your current kWh (kilowatt-hour) unit price. This gives your annual Electric Supply cost.
• Multiply your annual kWh usage by the kWh unit price in each green energy plan to get the annual Electric Supply cost for each green energy plan.
• Compare the annual Electric Supply cost of your current plan and the annual Electric Supply cost of the green energy plans. You can divide the annual the annual Electric Supply cost by 12 to get the estimated cost/month for each plan.
• If there is a cost increase, this is a kind nudge to make the switch — you’d be making an investment to end climate change, mountaintop removal mining, fracking, Standing Rock, etc. We can contribute significantly to ending these issues simply by switching to wind and solar in our homes.

4. Choose a plan and sign up as instructed on the company’s website.

FYI/Answers to FAQs:

• PECO will still be your utility.
• There will not be an interruption to your service, because wind and solar are in larger supply than demand. There are many wind farms and solar farms with which companies contract, so there is always wind or solar available for companies to purchase and supply to your home.
• Your electricity currently comes from PECO’s default fuel mix, which is probably mostly coal, natural gas, and other fossil fuels. Switching to wind or solar energy simply means you instruct your utility to purchase your energy needs from wind or solar.
• Switching to wind or solar energy is an investment in wind or solar technology. Eventually wind and solar will be the least expensive energy options for everyone everywhere. Purchasing wind or solar now makes that shift happen faster.
• Widespread use of wind or solar energy (1) significantly mitigates climate change and (2) makes mountaintop removal to mine coal in Appalachia, fracking, and oil pipelines that threaten livelihoods literally become things of the past, and (3) mitigates wars fought for oil. The lessening of suffering that independent, renewable energy leads to is quite simply phenomenal.
• Renters can make the switch as well as homeowners. Whoever pays the electricity bill each month can make the switch.