Business electricity and natural gas suppliers in Pennsylvania
How commercial and industrial companies in Pennsylvania buy electricity and gas: which utilities deliver it, what happens if you do not choose a supplier, how PJM sets the costs behind the price, and how to run a competitive purchase.
Every commercial and industrial customer of Pennsylvania's electric distribution companies can buy generation from a licensed electric generation supplier (EGS). Customers who do not choose take the utility's default service, procured through PA PUC-approved programs; for larger customers, that default is priced hourly. Discovery Energy Utility Audits buys electricity and natural gas for multi-site companies with sites in Pennsylvania: it inventories every account, invites every active supplier to one RFP, compares offers line for line, tracks each contract to renewal in TaraBase and audits the utility bills behind it. Its procurement fee is disclosed in advance.
01 / 07
Who delivers electricity in Pennsylvania
The utility in each territory owns the wires and bills delivery under a tariff the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PA PUC) approves, whoever supplies the energy. Municipal utilities and cooperatives usually sit outside retail choice. Every utility in the state is listed in Discovery's Pennsylvania electric utility directory.
| Utility | Area | Grid |
|---|---|---|
| PECO Energy | Philadelphia and southeast Pennsylvania | PJM (PECO zone) |
| PPL Electric Utilities | Central and eastern Pennsylvania (Allentown, Lancaster, Scranton) | PJM (PPL zone) |
| Duquesne Light | Pittsburgh and Allegheny and Beaver counties | PJM (DUQ zone) |
| FirstEnergy Pennsylvania (Met-Ed, Penelec, Penn Power, West Penn) | Large parts of central, western and eastern Pennsylvania | PJM (several zones) |
| UGI Utilities, Citizens', Wellsboro, Pike County | Smaller territories | PJM |
02 / 07
What happens if a business does not choose a supplier
Default service for large commercial and industrial customers in Pennsylvania is generally hourly priced: the customer pays the wholesale price hour by hour plus the utility's administrative and other charges. PECO, for example, prices default service for large commercial and industrial customers above 100 kW on an hourly basis (Procurement Class 3/4), and FirstEnergy's Pennsylvania utilities bill default generation on hourly pricing for their large commercial and industrial classes. A plant that never chose a supplier is therefore fully exposed to the wholesale market, including summer price spikes.
Smaller commercial customers get a fixed-price default service rate that resets on a schedule; the PA PUC publishes a rate comparison report each year.
03 / 07
Capacity, transmission and why prices moved
In PJM, capacity is bought in a forward auction and charged to each account through its peak load contribution (PLC), set from the account's demand in the five summer peak hours of the year before. The auction price was $28.92 per MW-day for 2024/25, $329.17 for 2026/27, $333.44 for 2027/28 and $325 for 2028/29, the third auction in a row at the price cap. At $329.17 per MW-day, each 1 MW of PLC costs about $120,147 a year before the utility's adjustment factors. Pennsylvania commercial prices rose 15.8% over the 12 months to July 2026. Discovery's Pennsylvania industrial electricity briefing covers the PPL settlement, the transmission rider and large-load tariffs.
How a contract treats these charges, fixed or passed through, matters more than the headline rate. See charges by market and what to do about PJM capacity charges.
04 / 07
Natural gas for businesses in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania's gas utilities, including PECO Gas, UGI Utilities, Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania, Peoples Natural Gas, National Fuel Gas and Philadelphia Gas Works, offer supplier choice, and larger sites can buy gas from a natural gas supplier under transportation service. The state sits on the Marcellus and Utica shale, so regional basis can trade well below Henry Hub. Discovery rates winter delivery capacity for Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, south-central Pennsylvania and York.
Discovery's natural gas procurement page explains transport eligibility, NYMEX and basis, balancing, and firm versus interruptible service.
05 / 07
Brokers, suppliers and licensing in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania licenses brokers and marketers as electric generation suppliers through the PA PUC. Ask any broker for its EGS license. Discovery Energy acts as an energy broker in its procurement work; its energy broker licenses and registrations are held by Energy Auction Exchange, LLC. Ask Discovery for the license or registration that covers your Pennsylvania sites. Suppliers serving Pennsylvania customers are licensed by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PA PUC), which keeps the list of active suppliers. A broker can only bid your Pennsylvania sites to suppliers active in each utility territory, and only if it is licensed or registered where the state requires it. How brokers are paid, and what to ask, is covered in energy broker fees.
06 / 07
How Discovery buys electricity and gas in Pennsylvania
Inventory
Every Pennsylvania account: utility, rate class, default or supplier service, contract end date, usage, capacity and transmission tags.
Check the bills
Rate class, riders, demand and meter setup are tested against the tariff before a contract locks in the baseline. See utility bill audits.
Time and bid
One RFP to every active supplier, timed with the monthly Energy Risk Report, with Pennsylvania sites bid alongside the rest of the portfolio. See the multi-state RFP.
Compare and sign
Offers side by side on the same terms, in each structure that fits: fixed, fixed with pass-throughs, index, block and index or layered. No contract is signed without your written approval.
Track
Every contract in TaraBase, with renewals flagged well in advance so nothing rolls onto default or month-to-month pricing.
How far back utility overcharges can be refunded in Pennsylvania is on the Pennsylvania refunds page.
07 / 07
Questions about buying energy in Pennsylvania
Can businesses choose their electricity supplier in Pennsylvania?
Every commercial and industrial customer of Pennsylvania's electric distribution companies can buy generation from a licensed electric generation supplier (EGS). Customers who do not choose take the utility's default service, procured through PA PUC-approved programs; for larger customers, that default is priced hourly.
Who are the retail energy providers in Pennsylvania?
Suppliers are licensed by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PA PUC), which keeps the list of active suppliers. Discovery invites every supplier active in each utility territory to its RFPs rather than a short list.
Which electric companies serve businesses in Pennsylvania?
PECO Energy; PPL Electric Utilities; Duquesne Light; FirstEnergy Pennsylvania (Met-Ed, Penelec, Penn Power, West Penn); UGI Utilities, Citizens', Wellsboro, Pike County. They deliver the power; the supply can come from a competitive supplier.
How do I compare commercial electricity offers in Pennsylvania?
Put every offer on the same product, term and treatment of capacity, transmission and other pass-through charges, then compare price. Check usage tolerance, auto-renewal and early termination terms before signing.
Sources
- PECO filing to the PA PUC, Generation Supply Adjustment for Procurement Class 3/4 hourly pricing, large commercial and industrial customers over 100 kW.
- PA PUC, Rate comparison report 2026, default service prices by utility and customer type.
- PA PUC, Electric Generation Supplier application resources, broker licensing.
- EIA data compiled by StartBusinessByState, Pennsylvania commercial prices up 15.8% in the 12 months to July 2026.
- PJM, 2026/2027 Base Residual Auction Report, $28.92 per MW-day for 2024/25 and $329.17 for 2026/27.
- PJM, 2028/2029 Base Residual Auction results (July 14, 2026), $325 per MW-day cap; 2027/28 at $333.44.
Find out what your bills should have cost.
Send one recent bill per site, or a list of accounts. We tell you where we expect findings before you sign anything. No upfront audit fee.