Met-Ed Commercial Electric Rates Jump 8% on December 1: What PA Businesses Can Do

Met-Ed's commercial electric rate rises 8% to 13.882¢/kWh on December 1, adding about $51 a month for a business using 5,000 kWh. See what it means for your bill and how to compare rates.

Reading, PA - November 11, 2026 - Analysts with PAEnergyRatings.com warn that business owners in Bethlehem, Lebanon, and Reading will pay 8% more on their monthly electricity bills if they stick with the Met-Ed commercial Price to Compare rate this winter. The utility announced its default General Secondary supply rate will increase from 12.864 cents per kWh to 13.882 cents per kWh on December 1, 2026.

On On Met-Ed's new default rate, a business using 5,000 kWh a month will pay about $694 in supply charges, up $51 from roughly $643. By signing up for one of the lowest PA business electricity rates on PAEnergyRatings.com, that same business could cut its bill to about $466 and save roughly $228 a month. The increase affects businesses across Berks, Lebanon, Northampton and other eastern PA counties.

The Price to Compare (or PTC) is a pass-through rate. That is, customers that do not want to shop for energy suppliers in PA pay exactly what Met-Ed pays for the electricity. Business owners who compare Met-Ed electricity plans can avoid that default rate, which has risen by nearly 60% over the past five years. Most of the increase stems from tight generator supplies on the PJM Interconnection grid as well as rising wholesale prices throughout the industry.

Unlike residential bills, where utility delivery charges make up most of the cost, commercial electric bills are driven mainly by the energy supply rate. Because rates will likely keep rising, energy experts are warning businesses to choose an energy supplier instead of staying with their utility's default supply rates.

Karl Trollinger, CEO of Lumanex, says, "Companies in southeastern PA that are closely watching every dollar need to shop for cheap electricity now before December 1. Businesses can avoid Met-Ed's periodic rate hikes when they choose the power suppliers that offer plans to fit their commercial electric needs. Right now, some variable and fixed rate plans are running 30% less than what we'll see from Met-Ed on December 1. But business owners need to move on that as soon as possible by comparing PA electric providers at sites like PAEnergyRatings."

PAEnergyRatings.com is operated by Lumanex LLC.

Lumanex LLC operates an energy management platform and a network of energy shopping websites across 11 states across 56 utilities, providing our advisory, comparison and ratings service to over 58 million residential and commercial customers. We provide our customers with the power to choose the best providers through our consumer reviews platform and provide a reliable, unbiased, source of valuable consumer insight, advice, in-depth energy company service evaluations, and personalized recommendations.