Duquesne Light is seeking a rate increase of $85.8 million

PITTSBURGH — Duquesne Light Co. is seeking a rate increase totaling about $85.8 million with the Pennsylvania Public Utility Comission, its first request since 2018 and what the company said will help it pay for infrastructure improvements as well as helping customers, both residential and commercial, recover from the economic setbacks of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The increase, if approved by the PUC, would go into effect in January 2022 and increase the typical homeowner’s bill by 7.72%, about $7.73 a month, the typical commercial user’s bill by 6.36% or $54.85 a month, and the typical industrial customer’s bill by 4.23% or $700.26. Duquesne Light’s distribution base rates, the amount of money it can charge for electricity distribution, haven’t increased since December 2018. Duquesne Light has about 600,000 customers in Allegheny and Beaver counties, and can’t raise the distribution rates for electricity unless the PUC approves it.

The total request to the PUC is $115 million, but some of that is already being collected, just through other parts of customers’ electrical bills. Duquesne Light wants a surcharge that is already on customers’ bills, which brings in $29.2 million to the utility, to be moved into the overall distribution charges instead of being a special line item.