PECO's all-in rate is about 22¢ per kWh for Pottstown homeowners and their neighbors across Western Montgomery County — and PECO's own CEO is already pointing to growing AI data centers as the reason for the next rate hike request. Solar on your Pottstown roof fixes your price before that request is approved.
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PECO rarely raises rates all at once. The increases arrive in steps — twice-a-year supply resets and delivery adjustments that pay for grid replacement — and the combined total is what lands on a Pottstown household's bill. A solar PPA fixes your price for the life of the contract, so none of those steps apply to the electricity your panels make.
PECO delivers power to roughly 1.6 million customers in Philadelphia, Delaware, Montgomery, Bucks, and Chester Counties — Pennsylvania's biggest customer base. The all-in rate is now about 22¢ per kWh, up 19.4% in the last 18 months.
The wires are old, too. Federal energy data shows most U.S. transmission and distribution equipment was built in the 1960s and '70s and is reaching the end of its design life. PECO is spending billions to replace and harden that system, and the cost comes back to you as the delivery increases shown above.
Data centers are the next pressure point. PECO's CEO has named "growing AI data centers" as a reason for its next rate hike request, layered on a nearly $10 billion, five-year infrastructure plan. Combine supply and delivery and PECO's rates are up nearly 94% in five years — close to double.
The conversation is local, too. A developer has proposed a data center of roughly 2.8 million square feet in neighboring Limerick Township, and it has drawn resident protests and a long list of planning demands. The project is still contested, but plans like it are part of the local debate over how much power the region will need.
A Pottstown solar system takes your electric price off that escalator. You pay for the power your own roof produces, not for whatever PECO's next rate case approves.
Lock My Rate Now →Your PECO rate is pre-loaded. Tell us your monthly bill. We calculate your Year One savings and 25-year projection on the spot.
A Solar Energy Consultant assesses your roof, its sun exposure, and your annual usage. They custom design a system for your home or tell you honestly if your home doesn't qualify for solar.
We handle the PECO interconnection application, net metering enrollment, and all permit paperwork. From signing to installation typically takes two to three months.
Once installation and final inspections are complete, your utility gives the official Permission to Operate (PTO). At that point, your system is activated and starts producing power.
Pottstown sits on the Schuylkill River and is served by PECO, as are nearby Lower Pottsgrove, Limerick, Lower Providence, Upper Providence and Skippack. The borough has a lot of older rowhomes and twins, while the surrounding townships lean toward newer suburban homes on larger lots. The roof and the lot decide the design, not the town line. Every system is permitted through your township and connected under PECO's standard interconnection process, with a 25-year equipment warranty at no cost to you.
Start with Pennsylvania licensing. Then ask whether the crew knows how permitting works in your township and what PECO requires for interconnection. Out-of-state and national outfits frequently don't. A solid Montgomery County installer is local, answers the phone after the install, and covers the equipment with a 25-year warranty at no cost to you.
Yes. Pottstown and the neighboring Western Montgomery County townships — Lower Pottsgrove, Limerick, Lower Providence, Upper Providence and Skippack — all get their electricity from PECO. Not sure? The utility's name sits at the top of your monthly bill.
They have been. PECO's all-in rate is roughly 22¢ per kWh today — up 19.4% over 18 months and close to 94% across five years. Its CEO has pointed to growing AI data centers as a driver of the next rate hike request, and that sits on top of a nearly $10 billion, five-year infrastructure plan. A solar PPA locks your rate below PECO's current combined rate before the next reset lands.
Often it will, but the roof decides. We check which direction it faces, how much shade falls on it and what shape it's in. If the roof needs repairs first, we'll tell you that instead of bolting panels onto it. The free estimate gives you a ballpark, and a site review confirms what your roof can handle.
Yes, and it can be an ideal spot. Properties on bigger lots often have a detached garage with an open, sunny roof, which can carry panels next to the main house or in place of it. Each property gets its own review, and we recommend whichever layout produces the most.
The wholesale market is the culprit. PJM Interconnection, which supplies power to every utility in Pennsylvania including PECO, saw capacity auction prices jump more than 800% in 2024. Data center growth, power plant retirements and transmission bottlenecks all fed that spike. Utilities then pass the cost along through supply rate changes twice a year. These pressures are structural and ongoing, not a one-off.
Nobody got off easy. PPL raised supply rates 20% in 2025, and Met-Ed's supply rate rose 24.6% in the last year. PECO's all-in rate is up 19.4% over 18 months. Duquesne Light carries the state's highest all-in rate at about 22.4¢/kWh and took the biggest single-reset jump of any PA utility in December 2025. Penelec, West Penn Power, Penn Power and Citizens Electric customers have seen comparable increases. For every one of these utilities, a solar installer can offer a fixed rate under the current utility price.
Ahead of the next rate reset. Pennsylvania utilities, PECO included, reset supply rates twice a year, and every increase that takes effect before your system is live hits you at full retail. From signing to installation typically takes two to three months, with activation following. Starting sooner means fewer rate resets land before your system is generating.
With a Power Purchase Agreement, the solar company installs, owns and maintains the panels on your roof, and you pay per kilowatt-hour for what they produce — at a rate under what PECO charges. You put nothing down, and equipment and maintenance cost you nothing because you don't own the system.
Buying outright typically runs $15,000–$25,000 up front (less or more depending on system size). In return you get ownership, the tax benefits and any added resale value, but you also carry maintenance and repair risk for 25+ years. A lease charges a flat monthly amount no matter how much the system generates. A PPA bills only for actual production, so your payment follows your usage. For homeowners who don't have cash to buy, it delivers the savings without the upfront cost or the ownership risk.
Nothing up front — you just pay less for your electricity. Under a no-cost PPA you pay only for the power the system produces, at a rate set below your utility's. There are no installation fees, no equipment charges and no maintenance bills. The free estimate on this page works out what solar would save at your Western Montgomery County address.
Buying a system outright typically costs $15,000–$25,000, which is exactly why no-cost PPAs exist. Under one, you skip the equipment and installation costs and the maintenance. You just pay per kWh for the electricity the panels make, below PECO's current price, while the solar company owns the equipment and takes on the risk. So for most PA homeowners wondering about the sticker price, the answer is that with a PPA they never pay it. The pros and cons of solar look very different once the upfront bill is gone.
Paid for outright, a system generally lands between $15,000 and $25,000, depending on size. Through a no-cost PPA, nothing is due at signing or install — you just have cheaper electric bills. What you pay afterward is a per-kWh rate — the same kind of charge you already pay PECO, only lower.
Nothing up front — you just pay less for your electricity. As for lifespan, most panels carry a 25-year warranty and keep producing beyond it, typically at 90–93% of their original output after 25 years.
Yes, but a much smaller one. You pay the solar company for the power your panels generate, at a rate under PECO's, and you pay PECO only for whatever you still pull from the grid. If your system is sized to cover 100% or more of your annual usage, the PECO bill can shrink to the monthly customer charge, typically $10–15. It won't vanish entirely, but it drops to a fraction of what it was.
It's one of the better solar states. Peak sun averages 4.5–5 hours a day, net metering is legally protected at 1:1 across Pennsylvania's electric utilities, and every major utility now charges above the national average. Current rates per kWh are 19.2¢ at PPL, 21.1¢ at Met-Ed, 22¢ at PECO and 22.4¢ at Duquesne Light. With a PPA that needs nothing up front, the real question isn't the state — it's whether your roof qualifies.
For most homeowners, yes. Pennsylvania gets 4.5–5 peak sun hours daily, state law protects net metering, and every PA utility charges above the national average. Solar works reliably despite the state's cloudy stretches, and it offsets rising utility costs instead of leaving you stuck at today's already-high rate.
Savings depend on your utility and how much power you use, but most PA homeowners save hundreds per year and tens of thousands over 25 years. On the environmental side, every kWh your panels make is one a fossil-fuel plant doesn't have to produce, and a typical home system offsets several tons of carbon emissions each year.
Net metering tracks the gap between the electricity you pull from the grid and the electricity your panels send back. When panels out-produce your home during the day, the surplus flows to the grid and your utility credits your account at the full retail rate. Those credits then cover you at night and in winter, when output drops.
Pennsylvania's Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards Act requires the state's electric utilities, PECO included, to offer residential customers 1:1 net metering. Put $1 of energy on the grid and you get $1 back.
For now, residential net metering in Pennsylvania is intact. The AEPS Act and PUC regulations require PPL, PECO and Met-Ed, along with the rest of the state's utilities, to offer 1:1 credit for homeowners. Plenty of states are far less generous. California pays just $0.25 on the dollar. Arizona pays $0.50, and that rate steps down every September for new customers. West Virginia's Mon Power and Potomac Edison customers get $0.70, Indiana $0.30, Utah $0.50, and Michigan an average of $0.50.
Pennsylvania isn't in that group today. Still, the state's utilities and regulators have been fighting over net metering rules in court since at least 2016.
For homeowners without cash on hand, the main incentive is the no-cost PPA — not a state rebate, but a financing structure that removes the cost barrier altogether. Net metering, protected by the AEPS Act, serves as the state's core program benefit by crediting your excess production at the full retail rate.
Your roof panels absorb sunlight and turn it into DC electricity, and an inverter converts that into the AC power your home runs on. The house draws on that solar power first, before taking anything from the grid. Extra production flows back to PECO, which credits your account at the full retail rate through net metering. When output dips at night or in winter, you use those banked credits before buying from the utility. The result is a bill that reflects only the difference between what you used and what your panels produced.
Yes, just at lower output — typically 10–25% of peak. Factoring in clouds and seasons, Pennsylvania averages 4.5–5 peak sun hours a day, and systems are sized with that in mind. The surplus you bank during high-production summer months is what covers the dip on gray days and in winter. The climate here is well within the range where solar pays off.
Panels make nothing without sunlight. After dark, your home pulls from net metering credits earned during the day, or from the grid if the credits run out. A properly sized system generates enough daytime surplus to cover most or all of your overnight and winter usage. Net metering is what makes solar workable in a state with cold, dark winters.
They do, though output falls because of shorter days and a lower sun angle. The summer surplus you bank through net metering fills that gap. For orientation, south-facing roofs in Pennsylvania produce the most, but east- and west-facing roofs still perform well when the system is sized correctly.
A standard residential panel puts out roughly 350–450 watts in peak sun, which works out to 1.5–2 kWh per day depending on season and orientation. A full array of 20–30 panels adds up to enough to offset most or all of a typical Pennsylvania home's monthly electric bill.
It comes down to your usage. Most homes need 20–30 panels to offset a typical bill, though roof size, sun exposure and monthly kWh consumption all shift that number. The estimator on this page accounts for those factors when it sizes your system.
Size is set by your average monthly bill measured against your current usage. Most PA homes land in the 6–10 kW range. The estimator uses your real bill and usage to size a system for your house rather than a generic average.
No. A no-cost PPA pays for the solar equipment, installation and maintenance, but not roof replacement. If your roof is due for replacement, that has to happen before panels go on. Roofs in good condition with 10 or more years of life left typically qualify without trouble, and a Solar Energy Consultant will check your roof during the process and tell you plainly if it's an issue.
Plan on two to three months from signature to installation, with activation following. Begin now and your system could be producing before the next round of PECO rate increases.
The free estimate above runs on your actual PECO rate and shows what solar would save a Pottstown household in Year One and over 25 years. No cost, no obligation, no pressure.
See If Your Home Qualifies →