8 Insurance and Utility Costs Increasing for Pennsylvanians in 2026
Pennsylvania’s electric bills jumped by double digits at several utilities this summer, with one default supply price up nearly 12% in a single day.
Water bills, gas bills, and health insurance premiums are all rising right behind it.
These are the insurance and utility costs that have already risen or are set to rise for Pennsylvanians in 2026.
Note: This is general information, not financial or insurance advice. Rates, dollar amounts, and effective dates are subject to change.
1. Water and Sewer Bills From Pennsylvania American Water
Pennsylvania American Water customers already felt this increase hit their mailbox.
Rates for roughly 810,000 customers across 38 counties, from the Pittsburgh suburbs to the Lehigh Valley, went up on August 13, 2026.
The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) approved a combined $74.9 million revenue increase on July 16, 2026, split between a 4.75% rise for water service and a steeper 14.17% rise for wastewater service.
That stings.
Regulators cut the company’s original water request by roughly two-thirds, from more than $143 million down to $45.3 million.
But the wastewater side of the bill still rose further than Pennsylvania American Water first proposed, up from an initial $16.1 million ask to $29.6 million approved.
2. Health Insurance Premiums Through Pennie
Pennie, Pennsylvania’s own health insurance marketplace, already sent shoppers some rough renewal letters last fall.
The Pennsylvania Insurance Department approved an average 21.5% increase for 2026 individual-market plans, and the small-group market rose another 12.7%.
Some carriers fared worse.
Regulators approved a 37.8% jump for Ambetter Health of Pennsylvania, while Geisinger Health Plan came in lowest at 11.6%.
Congress letting enhanced federal subsidies expire at the end of 2025 did as much damage as the base rate hikes, and Pennie’s Open Enrollment ran November 1 through December 15, 2025, for coverage that took effect January 1, 2026, and has already been billing shoppers for more than seven months.
Why Some Pennie Bills Jump Far Past 21.5%
Pennie’s 21.5% figure is the average sticker-price increase insurers charge, not what a subsidized household pays out of pocket.
Enhanced premium tax credits expired at the end of 2025, and Congress hasn’t renewed them.
The Pennsylvania Insurance Department’s own example shows the gap.
A 60-year-old married couple in York County earning $82,000 saw their yearly premium jump from $7,032 to $35,712.
Check your own subsidy total directly with Pennie instead of assuming the statewide average applies to your household.
3. Electric Bills From PECO
PECO, the electric utility serving Philadelphia and its suburbs, already delivered this rate hike to customers who never picked their own supplier.
Nobody asked for it.
The PUC’s default “Price to Compare” for PECO rose 4.97% on June 1, 2026, from 11.024 cents to 11.572 cents per kilowatt-hour.
That’s the supply side of the bill, the part tied to wholesale electricity markets rather than the poles and wires.
PECO also asked regulators in March for a separate $429 million distribution rate increase, tied to reducing power outages.
That request didn’t survive.
PECO withdrew the request on April 16, 2026, after pushback over affordability, so that piece of the bill stays put for now.
4. Distribution Charges From PPL Electric
PPL Electric, which serves eastern and central Pennsylvania, hadn’t raised its base distribution rates since 2016, and that streak ended this summer.
The PUC approved a $275 million settlement on June 4, 2026, trimmed down from the $356 million request PPL filed in September 2025.
The streak is over.
A residential customer using 918 kilowatt-hours a month now pays about $184.49 instead of $177.01, a 4.9% increase, for service rendered on or after July 1, 2026.
PPL agreed to a two-year rate case stay-out, so this particular charge should hold steady for a while.
Psst! How much do you know about Pennsylvania’s utility and insurance history? Take our quiz and see how many you can get right.
Quiz
Utility & Insurance IQ
Answer these questions on Pennsylvania’s utility and insurance history. We bet you can’t get them all right. Prove us wrong?
Which Pennsylvania utility owned the nuclear plant at the center of the country’s most serious commercial nuclear accident in 1979?
5. Natural Gas Rates From UGI
UGI Gas delivers natural gas to 46 Pennsylvania counties, and it wants the PUC to approve an 8.05% jump in what it charges to deliver it.
Nothing is final yet.
The utility filed for a $99.4 million annual revenue increase on January 28, 2026, covering roughly 690,000 residential, commercial, and industrial customers.
If regulators approve the full request, a typical residential customer's monthly bill rises from $113.64 to $123.55.
The PUC suspended the request for a full investigation, and a final decision is due by October 29, 2026.
6. Natural Gas Rates From Columbia Gas
Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania already locked in a rate increase for the 445,000 customers it serves across 26 counties.
The PUC cut the company's original 12% request nearly in half, approving a 6.05% increase in distribution revenue, or about $55.6 million a year, for service starting January 1, 2026.
That's already in effect.
The monthly customer charge is rising too, from $17.25, though regulators rejected Columbia's original ask of $31.97 a month.
The exact final number was still pending the company's compliance filing when the order came down, but it will land well under that original figure.
7. Electric Supply Prices From Penelec
Penelec customers across north-central Pennsylvania saw one of the steepest supply price jumps in the state this summer.
The utility's default Price to Compare rose 11.88% on June 1, 2026, from 11.747 cents to 13.142 cents per kilowatt-hour, part of the same statewide pricing update that hit PECO.
Other FirstEnergy utilities across the state saw similar increases that same day: Met-Ed's rate rose 7.6%, Penn Power's rose 6.9%, and West Penn Power's rose 10.3%, according to FirstEnergy's own tariff filing.
Rural Pennsylvanians felt it hardest.
Every one of those increases traces back to rising regional grid capacity costs, not anything the utilities spend locally.
8. Homeowners Insurance Premiums Statewide
Pennsylvania homeowners insurance premiums rose faster than either neighboring state's, the most recent available data shows.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia found that inflation-adjusted premiums rose 28.9% statewide between December 2021 and June 2025, outpacing Delaware's 25.4% and New Jersey's 26.1%.
The data stops there.
Rebuilding costs are driving much of what's already on the books.
Labor, materials, and repair timelines all got more expensive, and insurers price that risk into every renewal.
Homeowners in lower-income Pennsylvania neighborhoods saw the sharpest increases of all, according to the same analysis.
9 Pennsylvania Property Tax Breaks Retirees Leave on the Table
Pennsylvania just raised its property tax rebate to $1,000, the biggest check the program has ever cut.
Nearly 376,000 Pennsylvanians are claiming one this year, and many eligible retirees still skip the one-page form that unlocks it.
9 Pennsylvania Property Tax Breaks Retirees Leave on the Table
10 Problems Pennsylvania Home Inspectors Find That Buyers Walk Right Past
A young couple stands in the kitchen of a stone farmhouse outside Lancaster, already picking paint colors for the hallway.
Their inspector is still down in the basement, circling something on his clipboard that never came up during the walkthrough.
10 Problems Pennsylvania Home Inspectors Find That Buyers Walk Right Past
