State Rep. Scavello wants it to come from federal stimulus funds

State Rep. Mario Scavello (R- Monroe) has a bunch of people in his district he thinks need help from the federal taxpayer stimulus funds to get their home energy bills under control. No more than $54 million and as little as $26 million might do the trick, Mr. Scavello believes.

Courtesy of Baltimore Aircoil Co.

It seems somewhere between 13,000 and 18,000 Pennsylvania Power and Light (PPL) customers bought into the idea of thermal storage units (TSU) when they bought their homes in the 1980s and PPL promoted the idea. “They were sold a bill of goods” when they did so, according to Mr. Scavello. PPL says there are 13,000 TSU users and Mr. Scavello says the figure is about 18,000.

A TSU stores energy, generally in ceramic tiles, during what were once considered peak usage hours and then releases the heat beginning in the early evening to keep energy usage and costs lower. The TSU customers also received a beneficially lowered rate, subsidized by regular customers for more than 30 years. According to a PPL spokesman, TSU customers were subsidized to the tune of about $182 million in reduced rates over a nearly 30 year period.

State government imposed rate caps for PPL customers ended on Jan. 1 and, according to PPL, electric bills for the TSU users, with their subsidies being slowly phased out, have jumped 30 to 45 percent. Mr. Scavello said he has constituents who have complained of jumps between 59 and 70 percent.

Mr. Scavello has told George Cornelius, state secretary of the Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED), on Tuesday there is no restriction in using the federal stimulus dollars for grants of $2,000 to $3,000 per household to assist TSU users in switching to new home heating systems.

Mr. Cornelius said he will look into the situation.