Pennsylvania continues to have lower electricity prices than every state participating in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) — even as prices have climbed nationwide, according to a recent journal article from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL).
The findings underscore Pennsylvania’s position as a relatively low-cost power producer in a region where energy policy debates — including whether to join RGGI — remain politically charged.
According to the study — for which Pittsburgh Works Together published a Nov. 5 analysis — electricity costs in all RGGI states not only remain higher than Pennsylvania’s, but their rates also have increased more sharply over the past five years compared with the national average.
The study’s findings echo conclusions from a recent Pittsburgh Works Together report, titled “If Only RGGI Could Do What Pennsylvania Already Does…”, which argued that Pennsylvania generates more carbon-free electricity — and does so more affordably — than any RGGI state.
From 2019 to 2024, electricity prices in the United States rose an average of 2.4 cents per kilowatt hour, to 12.9 cents. Pennsylvania’s price went up slightly more (2.7 cents), but its 2024 price remained below the U.S. average at 12.5 cents.
The numbers for the RGGI states are much worse, where the price hikes ranged from a low of 2.9 cents (Delaware) to a high of 5.8 cents (Connecticut). And customers in those states now have electricity prices that are higher than Pennsylvania’s or the average price paid in the U.S.
In New York, the average price is 19.7 cents. In Massachusetts, it’s 24 cents, or nearly twice as high as Pennsylvania’s price.
The Berkeley Lab study also had several other findings relevant to Pennsylvania.
For instance, It found that states that saw significant increases in demand from data centers and other large customers saw their prices go up less than states where demand was decreasing.
Paying for the wires and infrastructure to deliver power has been a primary driver of price increases in recent years, said the study, and to the extent those investments can be spread over a bigger customer base, the impact is reduced.
Virginia, which saw one of the largest growths in demand because of its data center expansions, only saw its average electricity price go up by 1.3 cents per kilowatt hour between 2019 and 2024, half the national average.
“Overall, our results cast doubt on the simple view that load growth will necessarily increase prices over the medium- to longer-term,” wrote the researchers, who noted that future impacts remain uncertain.
The report also found that while higher levels of wind and solar generation didn’t automatically lead to higher prices, states with policies that require an increase in wind and solar through renewable energy portfolio standards saw their prices go up more.
“Those states — especially in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions — with relatively lower-quality wind and solar resources have often tended to experience larger price impacts,” according to the study.
In addition, the researchers examined the role of rooftop solar and other “behind-the-meter” installations.
The study found that privately owned solar facilities at individual buildings, such as houses with solar panels, have a mixed impact on prices.
The solar installations lower overall energy costs for those who have them by reducing their reliance on the local utility, but they tend to drive up costs for the overall customer base because fixed expenses are spread over fewer kilowatt-hours of demand.
But the study concluded it is difficult to say whether that will be the case in the future.
“While our results suggest that (behind-the-meter) solar led to meaningful price increases in a number of states during our historical analysis period, the same may not hold true in a future with much higher underlying levels of load growth occurring throughout the country,” wrote the researchers. “Just as rapid load growth might raise prices in such a context, so too might load reducers, such as BTM solar, help to dampen those price increases.”