Cranberry Residents Confused By Letter Claiming Their Utility Bills Will Increase

CRANBERRY TOWNSHIP (KDKA) -- Imagine receiving a letter that says you'll soon pay 20% more for electricity and that the rates will spike in just four days.

The flyer certainly grabbed the attention of residents of Cranberry Township, claiming a rate increase for Penn Power customers of almost 22%.

However, when KDKA's Meghan Schiller called Penn Power, they said prices are not changing.

When Cranberry resident Jeff Ricker saw the letter, he didn't buy it.

"I would be skeptical because anytime you see anything like this, it just doesn't make any sense," he said.

The flyer says it clear as day, in red ink: "A 21.54% increase for Penn Power customers in the area."

To opt-out of the increase, residents were told to just call the competitor, Titan Gas & Power.

"That's a lot of money when you add it up," said Scott Von Buseck, who noticed a lot of fine print in the flyer. "I think having competition is good for the system and it keeps rates low and we want to keep low rates but if it's only three months, then that's kind of false advertising in the fine print."

It turns out, Penn Power has already been fielding calls over these flyers.

"The company that sent out the flyer that are a registered generation provider in the state of PA and so the rate increase that they're talking about on the flyer, we don't really know where that number came from," said Penn Power spokeswoman Lauren Siburkis via a phone interview. "We have not changed our rates we have no current rate cases in Pennsylvania and our rates are set and approved by the PA PUC."

KDKA's Meghan Schiller reached out to the company behind the flyer, Titan Gas & Power but has not heard back.