Pugh Introduces Legislation to Bring Greater Transparency, Accountability to Utility Costs

August 17, 2026

HARRISBURG – State Rep. Brenda Pugh (R-Luzerne) has introduced legislation designed to give Pennsylvania consumers and lawmakers a clearer picture of their utility bills.

“Families, seniors and small businesses are feeling the impact of rising utility bills, and they deserve more than another notice telling them their rates are going up,” Pugh said. “They deserve to know what increased, how much it increased, why it increased and what that means for their monthly bill.”

Pugh’s legislation, House Bill 2738, would expand the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission’s (PUC) existing annual rate comparison report to include a five-year cumulative review of rate adjustments affecting residential, commercial and industrial customers.

The report would account for changes in base rates, distribution and transmission charges, riders, fuel and purchased-gas adjustments, infrastructure improvement charges, storm recovery charges, fixed customer charges, universal service surcharges and other PUC-approved charges that materially affect customer bills.

Importantly, the PUC would be required to translate those adjustments into an estimated average monthly bill impact for each customer class and identify whether adjustments resulted from federal or state law, utility filings approved by the PUC, or automatic adjustment mechanisms authorized by law or commission order.

“People shouldn’t need to be utility experts to understand their bills,” Pugh said. “If a charge is increasing, consumers should be able to see where it came from, why it increased and what it is costing them.”

Significant adjustments would also include a plain-language explanation of the primary reason for the change, including infrastructure investments, fuel or purchased-gas costs, storm restoration, environmental compliance, reliability improvements, operating expenses or debt service.

The legislation also addresses the impact of major electric transmission infrastructure projects. For projects materially affecting Pennsylvania ratepayers, the report would identify the project’s purpose, estimated cost, approved method of cost allocation and the portion of project costs allocated to Pennsylvania ratepayers. It would also identify whether a project is intended to address local or regional reliability, congestion relief, generation interconnection, large-load interconnection or other regional transmission needs.

“Pennsylvania ratepayers deserve to know what major transmission projects are costing them and why those projects are being built,” Pugh said. “As our energy system changes and large-load users place new demands on the grid, transparency becomes even more important. Families and businesses should be able to see what they are being asked to pay for.”

The measure would also require the PUC to identify statutory, regulatory or administrative provisions that, in the commission’s experience, created recurring implementation challenges or materially affected customer-bill transparency, regulatory efficiency or preparation of the rate comparison report.

“This legislation doesn’t promise Harrisburg can wave a wand and make utility costs disappear, because we can’t,” Pugh said. “We can’t simply dictate utility rates, but where the Legislature does have the authority to make meaningful changes, we intend to identify them and act.

“That starts with having the facts in front of us. We need to clearly understand what is driving these costs, where they are coming from, how much they are costing Pennsylvania ratepayers and who is responsible for them. Affordability matters, and transparency and accountability are necessary if we are serious about finding solutions.”

The legislation also protects against speculation by providing that future adjustments may only be included if they have already been approved by the PUC with a specified future effective date. Speculative or unapproved future rate increases may not be included in the cumulative rate impact summary.

“Pennsylvanians work hard for their money,” Pugh said. “When their utility bills increase, they deserve clear answers. And when we identify changes that are within our authority to make, they deserve action.”

Representative Brenda Pugh
120th District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Media Contact: Melissa Fox
717.260.6522
mefox@pahousegop.com
RepPugh.com / Facebook.com/RepBrendaPugh