High Delmarva Power bills prompt outcry

While a jump in Delmarva Power bills has drawn a flurry of complaints and a state Senate hearing set for Friday, Feb. 14, the utility has announced a series of programs intended to ease the burden of paying those bills, a company spokesman said.

In response to concerns about the bills, the Senate’s Energy, Environment and Transportation Committee has scheduled a special meeting for 10 a.m. to question Delmarva officials about the increase.

“A representative from Delmarva Power will come before the committee to address the recent increases in consumer energy bills,” according to a statement on the committee’s website. “Representatives from the Public Service Commission and the Delaware Office of the Public Advocate will also be in attendance and available for questions.”

Delmarva Power Regional President Phil Vavala is expected to attend the meeting, said Zach Chizar, a company spokesman.

The meeting will be livestreamed on the General Assembly website. Go to legis.delaware.gov and click on “Senate” under the “Live Proceedings” section of the homepage.

“People are concerned that their bills have grown from December to January, so we have been getting constituent calls,” said state committee Vice Chair Russell Huxtable, D-Lewes. “We want to dig into it.” 

Huxtable said the committee also wants to find out if anything can be done to prevent a repeat of the recent large increase in bills. 

It can take a few weeks for Delmarva Power to process a customer’s bills, and customers are billed on a rolling schedule each month, meaning many have yet to see some or all of the January increase, Chizar said.

He attributed the higher January service charges and the uproar they created to a series of issues – temperatures 4 to 5 degrees colder than the previous month, a change in Delmarva Power’s bills that caused confusion, and some types of heating equipment that require more power.

Electricity usage on average has increased sharply as the winter months set in, rising 40% from November to December and an additional 23% from December to January, Chizar said. The average usage for January was 6% higher than the same month a year ago.

“The primary driver is the unseasonably cold weather, which is increasing usage,” Chizar said.

The size of a house and the type of heating equipment it has are among several factors that determine electricity usage, Chizar said. Modern heat pumps can run almost constantly to maintain a house’s temperature, contributing to a higher bill, he said.

“It's important for consumers to understand the supply portion of their utility bill, which can be the majority of the bill itself,” Acting Public Advocate Ruth Ann Price wrote in a Feb. 4 letter to the General Assembly.

“Supply is a passthrough charge based on the capacity market prices at PJM, the regional grid manager, in order to procure enough energy to meet demand, as well as the commodity price of electricity,” she said. “The most recent PJM capacity auction saw record-high prices [which are expected to] cost consumers more than $14 billion compared to $2 billion the previous year.”

Delmarva Power has 342,500 customers across Delaware, but a figure for Sussex County alone was not immediately available.

A 3% seasonal increase in electric rates is also contributing to the higher bills, Huxtable said.

That is in addition to a 3.5% rate increase approved in April, the first in three years, Chizar said.

Some of the confusion and frustration over the power bills results from deficiencies in the format of Delmarva bills, Chizar said.

The company in November instituted a new format for its bills, moving information about delivery costs to the first page in an effort to be more transparent about what the bill includes, he said. The information had previously appeared on the second or third page of bills; some customers believed there was a new fee when it appeared on the first page under the new format. Changes to the bill were made after consulting with focus groups representing customers.

“That is where a lot of the confusion lies,” he said.

Rather than giving total costs, the company now lists its own distribution costs for moving electricity through wires to customers and separates the cost of purchasing that power through the energy market, said Chizar. Delmarva has no control of the supply costs, he said. 

Another problem with the bill format is that it includes a two-tier billing system that no longer exists, Chizar said. The bill shows fees for usage above and below 1,000 kilowatt hours. That format was based on a system for two-tiered billing that has not been used in a long time but still remains on the bills. That format gave the impression that there are two rates, but the bill has one rate, regardless of usage.

Another redesign of the bills expected later this year will probably eliminate the confusion of the current bill format, Chizar said.

“We are looking at ways that we can improve the bill,” he said.

Last week, Delmarva announced it had suspended disconnections for nonpayment next month, there will be no late payment fees for January and February this year, repayment periods were extended up to 24 months and fees to restore service after a disconnection will be waived. As of Feb. 12, 3,800 customers had signed up for one of the breaks, Chizar said.

While the options extend payments and give breaks on collecting, none reduce the amount owed.

Customers can also check delmarva.com/BillSupport to see if they are eligible for the company’s energy efficiency programs, financial assistance options, and billing and payment options.