Duquesne Light Company
Duquesne Light Company was founded by George Westinghouse in the 1870s. Through half of the 1900s, the Duquesne Light Company was a subsidiary the Philadelphia Company. By 1989, Duquesne Light Holdings, Inc was formed as holding company for the Duquesne Light Company. In 2007, the company was acquired by a consortium led by the Macquarie Group. Today Duquesne Light serves over a half a million residential and business customers in southwestern Pennsylvania.
In the late 1990s PA residents witnessed energy deregulation in Pennsylvania, which opened up the doors for people to shop electric suppliers in Pennsylvania. In turn, this allowed people the freedom to procure lower PA electric rates and/or work with PA electric suppliers who focused on greener technologies.
More and more people are taking advantage of the PA electric choice program, simply because it saves money and it's almost always easy to switch. What's more, Duquesne Light customers can shop electric suppliers in PA anytime. There is no participation deadline, so customers can choose to take part in this PA power switch at their convenience. However, the sooner consumers compare PA electric suppliers, the sooner they can lower their PA electric rates.
Consumers who're ready to lower their Pennsylvania electric rates can rest assured that they'll still remain a Duquesne Light utility customer. That's because Duquesne Light still transmits energy and delivers it straight to the consumer. As such, even if consumers have switched to different PA electric suppliers, Duquesne Light is responsible for maintaining and fixing power lines to assure delivery of their suppliers' products.
Consumers who participate in the PA electric choice program will only notice two differences when they make the switch. First, they'll notice that the “supply” portion of their bill lists a name other than Duquesne Light. And secondly, if the consumer did indeed shop electric suppliers in PA before making the switch, he or she should enjoy lower PA electric rates.