My take: The utility bill saga continues

 Meanwhile,  comments on social media came with conspiracy theories and heated language, pinning the blame on greedy corporations, dark forces and Democrats in the Legislature.

 Most people outside the social media bubble agree that cold weather is by far the biggest reason for the bill spike.

We know higher wholesale power and the cost of bringing electricity to homes and businesses were masked by higher winter temperatures. The effects of clean energy legislation are hotly debated, but won’t add up to much on a $300 monthly heating bill. 

Earlier,  I touched on the lack of good data and the need for an independent entity with the ability to crunch the numbers in a timely manner.

For its part, Delmarva Power should take the lead and flag bills that have doubled or tripled. Crunching  those numbers and likely reasons would provide needed insights and get us out of the blame game.

Delmarva does some of this already with available updates on how your consumption compares with homes of comparable size.

Based on personal experience, I suspect that individuals and perhaps small businesses with heat pump systems are seeing big spikes in consumption due to systems failing or moving to all-electric heat when the mercury falls into the low 20s.

HVAC contractors who deal with these issues daily should also be part of the conversation.

It's also a good idea to look at utility bills and compare the charges to those from a year ago. One individual in the Bear-Glasgow area (not me) ran the numbers and found cold weather was the main culprit. - Doug Rainey, chief content officer.