Dear friends,
Once again, Delmarva Power & Light is seeking to dramatically increase rates for electric and natural gas customers. The recently concluded merger of Exelon and Pepco Holdings, owner of DP&L, created the largest utility company in the country. Part of the “deal” for Delaware was a one-time bill credit for DP&L customers, with electric and natural gas ratepayers seeing a $122.64 and $49.95 credit, respectively, on their bill earlier this year. However, our regulators who approved the deal failed to acknowledge that the one-time rebate would soon be effectively neutralized by additional rate increase requests for delivery charges for electric and natural gas customers.
Now, Delaware ratepayers may see increases of hundreds of dollars extra each year if the newest rate increase requests by Delmarva are approved by the Delaware Public Service Commission. The Delaware Public Advocate’s office recently posted the following: “On August 17, 2017, Delmarva Power filed applications seeking additional electric revenues of $24.4 million and additional natural gas revenues of $12.8 million. This is on top of the additional electric revenues of $31.5 million and natural gas revenues of $4.9 million just recently put into effect. If the rate request is approved by the PSC, an average electric customer will be paying more than $4.00 more per month, and gas customers will be paying almost as much.”
These rate increases, if granted, will total much more than the one-time credit given to customers as a sop for the merger approval and the increases will continue to affect your bills and those of Delmarva’s commercial and industrial users. Since Delaware already has some of the highest utility rates in the Mid-Atlantic region, I feel I must once again petition the Public Service Commission to be able to intervene in both of these rate increases cases in order to protect my constituents and all Delawareans against what could be another calamitous economic taking by this utility conglomerate.
John Kowalko
State Representative
25th District
BEFORE THE PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION
OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE
PSC DOCKET 17-0977
IN THE MATTER OF THE APPLICATION
OF DELMARVA POWER & LIGHT COMPANY
FOR AN INCREASE IN ELECTRIC BASE RATES
AND MISCELLANEOUS TARIFF CHANGES
(FILED AUGUST 17, 2017)
PETITION FOR LEAVE TO INTERVENE OF
STATE OF DELAWARE REPRESENTATIVE JOHN KOWALKO
Pursuant to Rule 1001-2.9 of the Public Service Commission Rules of Practice and Procedure, State of Delaware Representative John Kowalko hereby petitions for leave to intervene in this proceeding, and in support thereof, states as follows:
1. Name, identity, mail and e-mail addresses, telephone number of the person seeking to intervene:
John Kowalko, State of Delaware Representative
14 Kells Ave.
Newark, DE 19711
(302) 547-9351
john.kowalko@state.de.us
2. Description of petitioner’s interest in the proceeding:
I am a Delmarva Power customer and as such have an interest in the rates charged to me for electric service. Furthermore, as a State Representative, I represent thousands of Delmarva Power & Light customers in my district and thousands more as a member of the House of Representatives Energy Committee. I am concerned about Delmarva Power’s frequent rate increase requests and the impact they have on all customers, and on the economic viability and the development of new businesses in Delaware.
3. Concise statement of why the petitioner’s interest will not be adequately represented by the parties to the proceeding or why participation in the proceeding would be in the public interest:
- My interests will not be met by any other party in this proceeding because no other party represents the wide range of customers that I do, from residential customers to large industrial customers. For example, the PSC Staff is required to balance the needs of a utility company with the needs of customers. The Division of the Public Advocate only represents residential and small commercial customers, not large commercial or industrial customers. DNREC is primarily concerned with environmental impacts and not necessarily customer cost impacts. My interests are unique and represent a broad range of Delmarva Power customers.
- My position as State Representative gives me a unique perspective that no other party brings to this proceeding. I am a member of the House of Representatives Energy Committee and as such help to craft State of Delaware policy regarding energy matters across all utilities. Electric rates may impact various State of Delaware policy initiatives, and as such I have a duty to my constituents and other members of the General Assembly to be actively involved in energy issues affecting Delawareans. Therefore my participation in this proceeding is in the public interest.
- The Commission has allowed my intervention in past Delmarva Power & Light cases, most recently in PSC Docket 11-528.
For all of the reasons above, I respectfully request that my invention petition be approved.
John Kowalko, State Representative
BEFORE THE PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION
OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE
PSC DOCKET NO. 17-0978
IN THE MATTER OF THE APPLICATION
OF DELMARVA POWER & LIGHT COMPANY
FOR AN INCREASE IN NATURAL GAS BASE RATES
AND MISCELLANEOUS TARIFF CHANGES
(FILED AUGUST 17, 2017)
PETITION FOR LEAVE TO INTERVENE OF
STATE OF DELAWARE REPRESENTATIVE JOHN KOWALKO
Pursuant to Rule 1001-2.9 of the Public Service Commission Rules of Practice and Procedure, State of Delaware Representative John Kowalko hereby petitions for leave to intervene in this proceeding, and in support thereof, states as follows:
1. Name, identity, mail and e-mail addresses, telephone number of the person seeking to intervene:
John Kowalko, State of Delaware Representative
14 Kells Ave.
Newark, DE 19711
(302) 547-9351
john.kowalko@state.de.us
2. Description of petitioner’s interest in the proceeding:
I am a Delmarva Power customer and as such have an interest in the rates charged to me for gas service. Furthermore, as a State Representative, I represent thousands of Delmarva Power & Light customers in my district and thousands more as a member of the House of Representatives Energy Committee. I am concerned about Delmarva Power’s frequent rate increase requests and the impact they have on all customers, and on the economic viability and the development of new businesses in Delaware.
3. Concise statement of why the petitioner’s interest will not be adequately represented by the parties to the proceeding or why participation in the proceeding would be in the public interest:
- My interests will not be met by any other party in this proceeding because no other party represents the wide range of customers that I do, from residential customers to large industrial customers. For example, the PSC Staff is required to balance the needs of a utility company with the needs of customers. The Division of the Public Advocate only represents residential and small commercial customers, not large commercial or industrial customers. DNREC is primarily concerned with environmental impacts and not necessarily customer cost impacts. My interests are unique and represent a broad range of Delmarva Power customers.
- My position as State Representative gives me a unique perspective that no other party brings to this proceeding. I am a member of the House of Representatives Energy Committee and as such help to craft State of Delaware policy regarding energy matters across all utilities. Natural gas rates may impact various State of Delaware policy initiatives, and as such I have a duty to my constituents and other members of the General Assembly to be actively involved in energy issues affecting Delawareans. Therefore my participation in this proceeding is in the public interest.
- The Commission has allowed my intervention in past Delmarva Power & Light cases, most recently in PSC Docket 11-528.
For all of the reasons above, I respectfully request that my invention petition be approved.
John Kowalko, State Representative
For more information on the Delmarva rate increase requests, please search by docket numbers on the Public Service Commission database. You can leave a public comment through their website as well. The dockets are 17-0977 (electric rate increase) and 17-0978 (natural gas rate increase).
You can also learn more about Delmarva’s recent attempts to have an rate increase imposed on ratepayers through an automatic surcharge every year.