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Philadelphians’ electric, gas and water bills all increased in 2025. Together, the typical household is paying around $30 more per month.
A meter shows energy produced by a photovoltaic system on the roof of a home in West Philadelphia. (Sophia Schmidt/WHYY)
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South Philadelphia resident Edoardo Vignani started tracking his utility bills when he lost his job in 2022.
Since then, he’s noticed many of his bills climbing higher each year. He worries most about electricity, which he uses for heating and cooling his house. One month this past summer, his PECO bill topped $400, he said.
Vignani is now working again, and he said he can afford his utility bills. But he worries the continuing increases could become unsustainable for him.
“That’s just kind of hard to budget for,” Vignani said.
Philadelphians were squeezed by multiple utility rate hikes in 2025. With water, electric and gas bills combined, the typical household is paying a little over $30 more per month. Another increase is around the corner in 2026 for PECO customers.
Here’s what to know.
Electricity bills shot up this year and will rise again in 2026
Over the past six years, average electricity prices have risen faster than inflation in roughly half of U.S. states — including Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
State regulators approved a plan for investor-owned electric utility PECO to raise distribution rates last year, mostly to pay for infrastructure investments. The typical residential bill rose 10%, from $135.85 to $149.43 in January 2025.
Demand for electricity is growing while a lot of the grid infrastructure is coming to the end of its useful life, said Abe Silverman, an energy consultant and research scholar at Johns Hopkins University.
“The cost of maintaining the system, the expansion of the system, these are all driving [prices up,]” Silverman said. “And inflation is just making it all very expensive at the moment.”
It’s not just the cost of transformers, wires and poles. Silverman said the cost of the electricity itself has also increased alongside the price of natural gas, which is used to generate most electricity in the region.
Separately, a supply-and-demand crunch on the regional electric grid has driven up capacity prices, which reflect the cost of paying power generators to commit to producing a certain amount of electricity in the future. An independent market monitor found that the expected growth of data center construction drove this price spike.
“The capacity prices have been going up just astronomically,” said Seth Blumsack, a professor of energy policy and economics at Penn State University.
Pennsylvania legislation aims to protect ratepayers from data center energy strain
The legislation would allow the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission to create a regulatory framework for data centers.
3 months ago
PECO phases capacity price hikes into customers’ bills over two years. In June 2025, a 10% increase began phasing in.
Another PECO distribution rate increase is coming in January, as the utility’s rate hike continues to phase in and a temporary bill credit expires, said spokesperson Candice Womer. As a result, the typical monthly residential bill will rise an additional 2.8%, from $156.01 in December 2025 to $160.37 in January 2026.
“What we’re seeing is increases in every piece of the bill,” Silverman said.
The increases in 2025 continue a trend of rising PECO bills since 2021. But rate data collected by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission shows that bills were similarly high a decade ago, when adjusted for inflation.
State regulators also approved a rate increase for Philadelphia Gas Works this year.
The typical residential gas bill rose 6.6% at the end of November, from $92.60 per month to approximately $98.70 per month.
PGW said it needed to raise rates in order to maintain a safe and reliable delivery system and cover the rising costs of labor, construction equipment and materials, information technology, and capital costs. PGW has a notoriously old system of pipes, more than half of which the utility considered “at risk” in 2022.
The company said even with this rate increase, a typical customer bill remains lower than it was in 2014. The company credits the cost of natural gas itself and energy conservation efforts, driving customer use down.
Nationwide, the price of natural gas delivered to homes dropped after 2008 and remained relatively stable through 2020, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The price has climbed in the last few years, peaking in 2025.
Philadelphia Water Department rates also increased in 2025. The typical monthly residential bill rose 9.4% on Sept. 1, from $81.77 to $89.42.
The utility said the rate increase would allow it to improve its infrastructure and cover the rising costs of labor, materials, equipment, laboratory services and compliance with government regulations. The department said it also planned to expand access to its low-income assistance program and senior citizen discount.
Water bills have remained largely flat over the last decade, before beginning to outpace inflation in the last few years. The department is dealing with an aging system of pipes and treatment plants as well as new regulatory requirements, while the availability of federal funding to cover needed upgrades has fallen in recent decades.
PWD spokesperson Brian Rademaekers said in a written statement that Philadelphia’s water rate increases have historically lagged behind national averages, and have recently “become more aligned.” He said typical water costs still equal less than 2% of Philadelphia’s median household income, which he said is within the industry standard for affordability.
“When you break down your water bill and look at the drinking water alone, the high-quality water we pipe 24/7 to every home in the city only costs about one cent per gallon – making it hundreds of times more affordable than the alternative, bottled water,” Rademaekers wrote.
‘Real, economic pressures’: Delmarva Power customers feel the squeeze as electricity and gas rates keep climbing
Lack of energy supply and continuing price hikes for gas and electricity this year have frustrated Delawareans over ability to afford higher utility bills.
1 month ago
Southwest Philadelphia resident Chía Cotansuca finds this year’s utility bill increases concerning. They recently lost their job and are relying on savings to cover mortgage payments, a student loan and credit card debt, alongside utility bills.
Cotansuca said a billing error has left them without a PECO bill for several months. They anticipate a large balance due after the error is fixed. Cotansuca is planning to apply for bill assistance and, in the meantime, plans to keep bills down by lowering the thermostat and using a heated blanket.
“It just seems like the trend is that things are going to continue to increase,” Cotansuca said. “Reprieve does not look like it’s anywhere in sight.”
“It’s becoming really difficult to afford living, period,” they added. “Not just in the city of Philadelphia, but like everywhere across the country.”
Vignani considers his financial situation “relatively privileged,” but said his wage increases have not kept pace with utility bill hikes or inflation more generally.
“I’m materially poorer than I had been historically because the total level of inflation is just very painful,” he said.
Unfortunately, he said, utilities are not a discretionary expense.
“This is not something that I can cut back on,” he said.
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