Reps. Warner, Dowling praise Pa. utilities issuing rate reductions to consumers due to tax reform

Reps. Ryan Warner (R-Fayette/Westmoreland) and Matt Dowling (R-Fayette/Somerset) applauded the recent announcement that the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) will require 17 major utilities to pass along millions of dollars in federal tax savings to consumers.

The rate reductions follow the PUC’s executive order requiring 17 major electric, natural gas, and water and wastewater utilities to provide monthly credits to consumers totaling more than $320 million per year because of the tax cuts under the federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.

“We are seeing utility rates lowered here in Fayette and Somerset Counties,” Dowling said. “Pennsylvanians have not seen their energy bills drop in years, and that is changing thanks to the savings produced by the federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.”

Warner and Dowling, along with 13 other Republican House members, sent a letter on March 22 to PUC Chairman Gladys Brown asking that the commission decrease energy costs for customers by a “fair and reasonable amount” due to the tax changes.

“Now that corporate tax rates have dropped from 35 percent to 21 percent, this reduction in costs should also be passed onto the consumer,” the letter said.

In a May 31 statement, Warner said, “My colleagues and I who authored this letter are absolutely thrilled to be helping the hard-working Pennsylvanians once again. The function of government should always be to help our hard-working taxpayers and this achieves just that.”