ELLWOOD CITY, Beaver County — New state legislation that would affect how municipalities manage their electricity rates was introduced Thursday.

Rep. Aaron Bernstine, R-10th, whose district includes Slippery Rock township and borough in Butler County, and others gathered at a residence on Wampum Avenue to talk about the bill, which would require borough electric providers to adopt more uniform rate structures.

“Presently, residents of dozens of boroughs across Pennsylvania see their electric bills increase by factors of 100 to 200 percent on a month-to-month basis without an increase in consumer consumption,” according to a release on Bernstine's website.

Bernstine at the news conference called the bipartisan bill “good, common sense legislation” that would drive down electric costs and would increase accountability for municipalities.

“This is legislation that will stop the excessive burden that the municipal electric companies are putting on their consumers,” he said. “Thirty-five boroughs across the Commonwealth are using government-owned, monopolized electric companies to inappropriately gouge their customers.”

Rep. Pam Snyder, D-50th, is co-sponsoring the bill.

Bernstine's bill would amend Pennsylvania's Borough Code to require borough electric providers to calculate their rates the same way municipal authorities calculate their rates.

Staff costs, repairs, debt service and other factors would be accounted for in these rates.

The calculated rates would be locked in for a three-month period with opportunities for readjustment at the end of each period.

The bill would also give residents or electric customers the ability to file suit in the Court of Common Pleas challenging a municipality's electric rates, as well as require municipal councils to hold public hearings before increasing or decreasing any rates.

The municipalities that operate and manage their own electricity would be affected by the new law if it were to be passed.

Zelienople is the lone municipality in Butler County that goes by this method and does so with fixed electric rates, meaning the borough eats costs if rates increase over budget and makes money if they are under budget.

This way, residents who purchase electricity from the borough do not see changes in costs.

Bernstine however previously called the method of using under budget costs for general fund purposes a “taxation tool.”

“Boroughs across the Commonwealth need to look at their spending,” he said. “The property tax system is in place to drive revenues for municipalities. There is a variety of things that could happen.”

Zelienople manager Don Pepe said Bernstine's bill is “like trying to kill a fly with a shotgun.”

“From everything we've indicated and with all due respect to the representative, he's not getting the picture,” said Pepe, who previously called the bill “crippling” and “harmful.” “He's trying to solve what he believes to be a problem, and it may be a local problem in Ellwood City, but it's not an issue statewide. It doesn't make any sense.”

Zelienople Borough Council in April voted to sign the Defense of Municipal Electric Systems in Pennsylvania to formally voice their opposition to the bill. Thirty-six municipalities in Pennsylvania, including Zelienople, operate and manage their own electricity. With the exception of Chambersburg, these areas purchase electricity in bulk from other companies and distribute it to consumers.

“Some of the issues that he (Bernstine) has for what he thinks the problem is should be addressed, but not in this manner,” Pepe said.

The Pennsylvania Municipal Electric Authority also opposes the bill, saying the bill is “unnecessary” and that they are “unhappy with the language.”

“The value that we believe that public power provides to residents and businesses is tremendously high,” said executive director Dave Woglom in a previous interview.

Bernstine said he has the support of 79 state House of Representatives members. State Rep. Jim Christiana, R-15th, who is also running for the U.S. Senate, also voiced his support for the bill at Thursday's news conference.

The following organizations are supporting the bill: AARP, Service Employees International Union, CAUSE-PA, Pennsylvania Manufacturers Association, Western Butler County Authority and Americans for Prosperity – Pennsylvania.

Bernstine said he got the idea for this bill from Ellwood City's adjusted electric rates causing increased costs. With this method, residents and other utility customers would see changes in their bills. Bernstine on Thursday showed a figure stating Ellwood City's electric rates are about 29 percent higher than standard rates.

“Small businesses and residents are choosing to move to other places than boroughs like Ellwood City, because they don't want to deal with the electric bill gouging,” he said.

Pepe said borough officials will consider traveling to Harrisburg to further oppose the bill, saying it could “severely inhibit” how local municipal governments operate.

“We'll do whatever it takes to help the situation,” he said.

Along with the PMEA, other state organizations are opposing the bill, including the Pennsylvania State Association of Boroughs, the Pennsylvania Municipal League and the Pennsylvania Public Power Association.

A news release from the PMEA states that local democratic control of borough electric rates is preferable and that overregulation by the state is unnecessary.

“Adverse” effects listed in the release include tax increases, service reductions, cuts to borough police and fire services, higher interest rates and borough borrowing costs, and potential job losses for borough employees and local businesses.

“Bernstine seems particularly confounded by the current and legal practice of internal payments in lieu of taxes from a borough's electric fund to its general fund,” the release states. “These payments are allowable under state law and have been used in Pennsylvania and in 83 percent of municipal electric systems nationwide for generations.

No time line has been given as to when a vote on the proposed bill may take place.