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Electric Generators' Association President Outlines Ways to Help Pennsylvania Customers Deal With Higher Electricity Prices

Posted on: Tuesday, 5 August 2008, 15:00 CDT

HARRISBURG, Pa., Aug. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Doug Biden, President of the Electric Power Generation Association, today reiterated his organization's plan to help Pennsylvania customers deal with anticipated higher electricity prices being driven by higher fuel and commodity costs.

Biden made his comments on a day when the Pennsylvania House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee held a hearing on the issue in Allentown, PA. The hearing is part of a larger effort by Pennsylvania lawmakers to deal with the expiration of electricity rate caps over the next several years.

Biden said, "Pennsylvania lawmakers are rightfully asking questions about what can be done to help residents adjust to paying market prices for electricity. The key is to develop constructive policies that align solutions with the real causes of the problem."

Biden argued that Pennsylvania legislators can best respond to this challenge by:

-- educating customers on how they can conserve and save, -- giving customers options to phase-in higher prices, -- encouraging conservation and reductions in peak demand for electricity, and -- reviewing the adequacy of low income assistance programs.

Biden said electricity prices are rising across the country, both in states that restructured markets to allow competition and those that retained traditional regulation. Biden said, "It's a well established fact that we're competing with countries such as China and India for fuel and commodities used to generate electricity. Those realities are driving up the underlying costs of producing electricity."

Biden said it is both wrong and counterproductive to blame competition for rising electricity prices. "Competition promotes efficiencies that provide the best means to counter underlying cost pressures. Competition is the solution to rather than the cause of higher electricity prices."

Biden said EPGA is committed to working with House and Senate leaders as well as the Administration to develop comprehensive legislation that helps Pennsylvania consumers make the transition to paying market prices for electricity.

EPGA is a regional trade association of major electric generating companies that supply wholesale power in Pennsylvania and surrounding states. Its member companies own and operate more than 141,000 megawatts of generating capacity, approximately half of which is located in the mid-Atlantic region.

Contact: Terry Fitzpatrick

(717) 909-3742

Electric Power Generation Association

CONTACT: Terry Fitzpatrick of Electric Power Generation Association,+1-717-909-3742

Source: PRNewswire

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