Penelec rates are forecast to rise about 11% over the next year.

As of July 2026, Penelec's supply rate is 13.14¢/kWh. Our forecast has it climbing to 14.59¢/kWh over the next year.

Rate forecast at a glance

Confidence reflects each forecast's historical accuracy over a 12-month horizon: high is under 8% off, medium 8–15%, low over 15%.

What moves your rate?

Your supply rate is really the wholesale cost of electricity showing up on your bill. A few factors move it, and lately, they've been mostly pushing up (though not everywhere). Here's the broad picture:

• Demand is rising and supply is tight: Electricity use is climbing — data centers in some regions, the electrification of cars and home heating in others — while older plants retire faster than new supply comes online. When more demand chases tighter supply, the cost of keeping enough power available rises, and your supply rate rises with it.

• Wholesale power and gas prices: Most electricity is still generated from natural gas, so when gas and wholesale prices climb, your supply rate climbs too.

• It's locked in by auction: Your utility buys its default supply in periodic auctions. Once a price clears, it holds until the next reset, which is why your rate jumps in steps rather than drifting.

Your residential supply rate

Actual & Arbor forecast · ¢ per kWh

Source: Arbor Rate Forecast · rebuilt from wholesale & auction data, updated monthly

Your utility's story

The part you can control

Your rate may dip this fall, but the market underneath is getting more expensive and harder to predict. With that in mind, you have to think about your situation: how much certainty do you want to lock in for the years ahead? Probably more than you have now. If you're renting, or not staying put long, short-term savings may be the smarter call. Either way, Arbor can help.

Our full read

Electricity prices move with the seasons: easing in spring and fall, climbing in summer and winter. Because of seasonality, it's entirely possible your rate dips this fall. But a seasonal dip and the direction of the market are different questions, and the second one matters more. Over the next several years, in most markets, the cost of electricity looks set to keep climbing and to get less predictable as it does — demand is rising, while older plants retire faster than new supply comes online, and the grid costs more to keep reliable. None of these pressures are seasonal, and there's little sign of them letting up.

So our honest read is that optimizing for the next few months of savings is usually solving the smaller problem. The bigger one is where the rising floor leaves you a few years out. You're deciding how much certainty you want against a market drifting the wrong way.

There's a real exception: if you're renting, or you don't expect to be at this address long, the next year or two is genuinely what counts for you, and going after the near-term savings is the rational move. The long game only pays if you're here for it. So, for most people, our lean is toward the longer horizon. But it's a lean, not a rule, and if your situation points the other way, that's what we'd tell you. With Arbor, you can choose what you want to optimize for: short-term savings or long-term stability.