The following is an ‘Ask The Mayor’ question submitted to TLS, and the Mayor’s response. Email your questions for the Mayor to [email protected].

Question:  Thank you for everything you do for our town. I am writing about the extremely high electric bill I got this month from JCP and L. It was almost double last month and we had many outages too! I checked with other neighbors and they told me the same thing happened to them. One even said hers was 4x the regular amount. Can you reach out to them and explain this to our town? Thanks!

Response from Mayor Coles:

Good afternoon,

We all have been feeling the pinch of higher electricity bills. The governor recently signed several bills into law to address the high-energy costs in the entire state.

I think the recent raise in our monthly bills has more to do with the recent heat waves we have had than any change in JCP&L billing.

I know my bill is through the roof. 100 degree plus temperatures make all our appliances, especially air conditioners, run for longer periods of time and under greater stress

I always see a swing in my utility bills. Because I have gas heat, my summer gas bill is extremely low but gets many times higher in the winter.

Conversely, my winter electric bill is low but shoots through the roof when the AC kicks in

It is possible to work with the utility and get an estimated bill, which will help lower the high-cost months by spreading them out over the year. We have done this for several years, & it makes bill paying and budgeting a bit easier to manage.

Ray

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