As temperatures are expected to reach well into the upper 80s in the next few days, Ellwood City Borough electric customers are being asked to conserve power.
Borough Officials said nothing is wrong with the electric grid; they’re just trying to take every avenue to reduce costs for customers.
Ellwood City Borough customers are requested to voluntarily lower electricity usage during the peak period from 2 to 6 p.m. beginning on Tuesday, July 5 and continuing through Wednesday, July 6.
“There’s plenty of power available and the grid is in good shape, but if we can conserve during these peak hours, the Borough can save on transmission and capacity costs next year,” Bob Villella, Borough Manager for Ellwood City Borough, said. “Lowering the peak demand will help keep the Borough’s electricity rates low.”
Customers can take simple conservation steps such as: shutting off lights when not needed; unplugging small appliances and electric chargers (especially those with small lights); raising the air conditioner thermostat a degree or two; closing curtains, drapes and blinds; doing laundry and other household chores requiring electricity during hours other than 2 through 6 p.m.; and turning off televisions, computers, gaming consoles, and other electronic devices when not being used.
“As a municipal electric system, owned by its citizens and customers, it is contingent upon those same citizens and customers to keep the electric rates for themselves and all other customers of Ellwood City Power and Light as low as possible,” Bob Villella has further stated. “Our citizens and customers have the opportunity to make a difference in their system and their rates by conserving energy during the period stated for the upcoming days. As forecast dictates, we will most likely be asking our citizens and customers to again conserve energy at additional times this summer.”
I DONT UNDERSTAND HOW REDUCIG ELECTRIC USE ON JULY 5 AND 6TH IS GONNA HELP WITH OUR ELETRIC BILLS MY ELICTRIC BILL DOUBLE FROM MAY TO JUNE SO DOES THAT MEAN THAT MY BILL IS GONNA DOUBLE AGAIN FOR THE MONTH OF JULY MY BILL WENT FROM 180.00IN MAT TO 415.00 FOR JUNE DONT NO WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN I NO THAT IM NOT THE ONLY ONE THAT SEEN A HIGH BILL LIKE THIS WE NEED SOME RELIEF WE CANT AFFORD BILLS LIKE THS ALL SUMMER LONG IT JUST DONT MKE SENCE THAT IT CANGO UP THAT MUCH WHEN YOU DONT USE ANY MORE ELECTRIC THAN YOU NORMALLY DO
Mine doubled as well and seeing a that my whole house is gas, I don’t even know how that is even possible. It’s a shame they’re allowed to get away with this. If 2 miles down the road they have First energy there is no reason we can’t. They just want to line their pockets with our hard earned money!
On average in PA, private utilities save 5% or greater compared to public utilities. Why is Ellwood City behind on the times again?
I am happy to see fellow residents speak out. We reject this “hey lets just talk about the good things in town shhhhh no bad stuff”. This is unfortunately the type of lines we hear from current leadership.
Perhaps its time for a change soon? New blood with new ideas. If Ellwood City continues with iron fisted government then near destitute conditions is what we will continue to have. Interesting vote coming next month on the restrictive zoning proposal. I am fearful liberty will not win out there!
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/03/14/business/private-vs-government-utilities.html
My bill is more then my house payment,,u got to be kidding me,,what’s gone on,,
Ellport has Penn Power, they run pool, AC all day long and bill is $170.00
Although my bill is not as high as some,it did go up $40 the bad part is we weren’t even home the whole month of June we were on vacation for a week with nothing on at our house .
My bill went from aprox. 95.00 to 230.00 from June to July. I don’t even live at my house in Ellwood. We have to conserve electric on July 5th to the 6th…get a grip…its 2016..who else does this…This is one of the many reasons Ellwood City has NO BUSINESSES!!. Drive down Lawrence Ave…you’re saving a lot of electric there…
The man in charge gets a 2k raise and is making 68k a year in a town where the only industry is the electric department. I’m paying $300 and someone in Texas and Arizona is paying $80! I would love to know where our money is going? If this continues we will have to picket and file a class action lawsuit!
It makes sense now! Ellwood city had a plant pull out and another one explode recently… Now the average citizen is going to pick up the cost $$$$$$$$$$
Go online and file a consumer complaint on the PA Attorney General’s website and email Marty Griffin at KDKA. mgriffin@kdka.com. Attend the council meeting on July 18!
This monopoly and price gouging has to stop! Many residents are upset over this and are emailing the attorney general as well as Marty Griffin. Our voices need to be heard. Council wants to continue to price gouge us and monopolize us so revenue from the electric dept. can be used for who knows what in the borough. Sadly, the money is not being used to beautify our town or to bring new business in. Why would any business want to be here when the electric dept. can’t supply the electric needed OR if a new business does open, it would be out of business after receiving the first months electric bill.
I’m in the same boat as many of you. We were out of town much of the last month and did not run our a/c any more than usual. Our bill went up a little over $60. We still don’t have it as bad as some people we’ve seen though; over $500 and $600 in some cases. Does anyone know if Ellwood City Borough actually makes a profit from this electric?
I think they skip every other house on their billing cycles to pay for everyone as my neighbors around me have nearly all electric and my house is mostly gas…my average bill per month is 250.00 minimum – their..under 100 bucks!…I have asked for my house to be inspected by the borough, check meters for mistakes and they say nothing is wrong. All major appliances are gas and my children (2)are now gone, yet my bill remains constant.
They refuse to help troubleshoot anything, but if my bill was half one month (yea right!) you bet they would have 10 guys crawling all over my house to find out why!
Our bill went from $77 to $152. I’m on an extremely limited income but if I don’t pay my bill they will shut off my electric! What can we do?