Editor's Note: The following message is from the First Energy (Met-Ed) utility company concerning its proposed rate hike.  As First Energy serves a majority of the houses in Dingman Township, the Township is helping to make residents aware of the price hike.  The opinions expressed are solely those of First Energy.

FirstEnergy Pennsylvania Utilities

Customers Benefit from Service Reliability Enhancements in Met-Ed   Rate Plan

Metropolitan Edison Company (Met-Ed) filed a comprehensive distribution rate plan with the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) on April 28, 2016, aimed at enhancing system reliability for Met-Ed’s 560,000 customers.

Enhancing Service Reliability for Customers

The Met-Ed rate proposal will continue to help our customers benefit from:

·         Significant service reliability improvements

·         Ongoing maintenance and inspections for the new equipment and facilities that have been built over the past several years to enhance reliability for customers

·         Increased tree trimming and vegetation management to reduce the number of tree-related outages

·         Updates to tablets and smart phones used by our field staff to immediately assess, document and report system damage and downed trees, streamlining the power restoration process

·         Continued installation of new smart technology that can be operated remotely to help prevent outages from occurring, reduce the number of affected customers when an outage does occur, and shorten outage durations

·         Updates to online and mobile technology that helps provide more timely information to customers, especially during severe weather events

Impact to Customer Bills

If approved, the rate proposal would result in an average bill increase of $17.52 per month for a Met-Ed residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity.  The new rate would be comparable to the average rates charged today by other Pennsylvania utilities.