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Pilot Programs Explained

To figure out how deregulation, power supply competition will work in Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) approved limited pilot programs for eight Pennsylvania electric companies, to operate from November 1, 1997 to December 31, 1998.

These temporary programs allowed 5% of each class of customers (residential, commercial and industrial) a choice of who supplies their power.

During September, 1997, solicitations took place for the pilot program. Unfortunately, news stories, ads and mailings, made it seem as though all electric consumers could participate in the pilot and save on their electric bills. However, 95% of Pennsylvanians are not affected. In fact, more than half of the 600,000 consumers who signed up for the pilot program were not allowed to participate.

Nearly 881,000 Volunteer in Pilot Program

Pennsylvania customers looking for cheaper electricity was so great that PA's eight largest power companies held drawings to determine which consumers got to take part in the pilot programs designed to show the benefits (if any) of deregulation.

The following is a tally of how many Pennsylvania electric consumers signed up for the private power company pilot programs.

Customer Choice Pilot Program Scorecard

Company	Pilot Applicants	Selected	Total Customers	Rate of Paticipation
Duquesne Light	36,397	26,000	580,000	6.28%
PECO Energy	416,000	74,000	1,500,000	27.73%
PP&L, Inc.	127,319	60,000	1,200,000	10.61%
Allegheny Power	65,000	33,000	655,000	9.92%
UGI Utilities	14,000	2,116	60,500	23.14%
GPU Energy	200,075	51,759	1,100,000	18.19%
Penn Power	22,350	7,600	145,000	15.41%
TOTAL	881,201	254,475	5,240,500	16.82%

Nearly 881,000 customers volunteered for the pilot programs by the time enrollment ended September 29, 1997 - more than double the number the Public Utility Commission (PUC) said would be used in the pilot.

Participants had until October 25, 1997 to choose a power supplier. However, power will continue to be delivered to the customers by their present power utilities. The pilot program ran from November 1, 1997 to the end of 1998.

Full-scale competition for all Pennsylvania was scheduled to phase in from 1999 to 2001.

Beyond Pilot Programs

Rural electric cooperatives, municipal electric systems and small private power companies, along with Warren Electric, were not required to conduct a pilot program. The cost, confusion and experimentation of the pilot programs is being borne by consumers of the participating Investor Owned Utilties (IOUs). However, WEC passed along savings from our wholesale power company to all members of the co-op.

While the pilots were under way, Warren Electric revamped its billing system to comply with new requirements and implemented other measures to reduce costs and improve efficiency. WEC monitored the pilot programs and incorporated the best practicesthat emerged.

You are not required to do anything to continue your present electric service with Warren Electric.