Oil and gasoline prices finally hit the brakes in May. After surging to the highest levels since 2008, oil dropped 10 percent for the month, the biggest monthly decline in a year. Pump prices slipped nearly 4 percent. The May decline gave consumers and businesses a bit of a breather from high fuel prices, though [...]
PPL Electric Utilities customers live in a topsy-turvy world. The Allentown utility on Friday announced new quarterly supply rates for its customers, including an increase of more than 64 percent for customers who signed up for hourly time-of-use rates. The rates of small commercial customers will increase 33 percent on June 1. But most residential [...]
U.S. inflation hit the highest level in 2-1/2 years as food and energy prices moved higher, but there was little sign of a broader pick-up in inflation that would trouble the Federal Reserve. The Labor Department said Friday its Consumer Price index increased 0.4 percent in April from March after rising 0.5 percent in March. [...]
Want to figure out how to get more-efficient energy usage from your household light bulbs? Care to track your driving skills and see how to be more fuel efficient? There’s an app not just for that, but for all things green. The Apple App Store and the Android Market list many apps to conserve energy and [...]
Since electric competition took off on Jan. 1 in Peco Energy Co. territory, more than 260,000 customers have switched suppliers, according to the utility. About 16 percent of Peco’s 1.6 million customers, including most of its large industrial customers, have switched to alternative suppliers, according to Cathy Engel Menendez, spokeswoman for the Philadelphia utility. Nearly [...]
Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission Chairman Robert Powelson explains why the PUC wants people to go to Pa. Power Switch and use “customer choice” to save money on your energy bill. Also, a reminder that we’re having a FREE PA Power Switch event on Tuesday, March 22 from 11 a.m. until 6 p.m. at The Shops at Liberty Place (1625 [...]
Heat your home by throwing a dinner party? This concept may sound bizarre, but it’s feasible in cutting-edge green homes that are so well-insulated, they don’t need a furnace or boiler. They’ll stay warm simply with body heat. A hairdryer might also suffice. “It’s like living in a glass thermos,” says John Eckfeldt, a physician [...]
Peco Energy Co.’s residential electric rates will increase on April 1, but by less than the Philadelphia utility had previously estimated. The price-to-compare, which is adjusted quarterly to reflect changes in commodity prices, will increase from 9.92 cents to 9.99 cents, less than 1 percent. Peco had earlier projected that the price would increase to [...]
Homebuilders say one of the biggest advantages of buying a newly built home is energy efficiency. However, some of the ways that builders make homes burn less cash might not be as recognizable to buyers as say, kitchen appliances, generous closets and bathroom amenities. So now some builders are boiling energy efficiency down to something [...]
Though his administration has been increasingly consumed by events in Egypt, President Obama briefly sought to return the focus to his domestic agenda Thursday, outlining a new energy conservation initiative during a visit to Penn State University. The quick trip to central Pennsylvania, delayed one day because of the major winter storm affecting much of [...]
Spending money wisely, from home repair to shopping
