Your Electric Bill, Your Voice: What Delaware Ratepayers Need to Know
Posted on August 17, 2026
For Delawareans concerned about rising utility bills, the past several months have brought a lot of numbers, acronyms and regulatory proceedings. Behind all of them is an important question: Who decides what a utility can charge its customers, and how can Delawareans have a voice in that process?
Recent developments involving Senate Bill 326 and Delmarva Power & Light’s pending electric base rate case help clarify that question and demonstrate why public participation matters. Your next opportunity to express your view will be at the public comment session being held at 6 p.m. on August 19th (additional details below).
New Set of Consumer Protections Become Law
During the 2026 legislative session, the Delaware General Assembly passed Senate Bill 326, legislation designed to strengthen oversight of regulated utilities and provide additional protections for ratepayers. The Public Advocate worked closely with legislators to help craft these changes.
Governor Matt Meyer signed SB 326 into law on July 13.
Among other reforms, the law changes how much a utility can increase rates through “interim rates” while a rate case is still being decided.
Previously, Delaware law allowed a utility to implement 100% of its proposed rates after a rate case had been pending for seven months. State statute allowed this despite the Public Service Commission (Commission) never granting 100% of a rate increase. That meant that, long before the Commission had completed its full review and determined whether a rate increase was just and reasonable, the utility could put the entire rate increase into effect
SB 326 changes that framework. After seven months, interim rates are now limited to 50% of the requested increase. If a case remains unresolved after 12 months, that amount may increase to 75%. These interim rates remain subject to refund, with interest. So if the Commission’s final decision authorizes rates lower than the amount collected on an interim basis, customers will be refunded the difference, including interest. But importantly SB 326 ensures that while the rate case is being considered by the PSC, more money stays with customers.
The legislation also strengthens oversight in other areas, including utility management audits to ensure our electric utility is being managed efficiently, regulatory accounting reviews to ensure transparency in utility finances, and limits on the amount of certain non-mandatory infrastructure spending that our electric utility can make to try to ensure that only the highest priority and most cost-effective investments are made (the amount of utility investment into infrastructure is a key driver of requests for requests to increase the base rates customers pay, what shows as “delivery” on a customer’s bill).
For ratepayers, these changes have already provided important safeguard on increasing rates: Delmarva Power electric customers have been protected from a substantial portion of the interim rates that could otherwise have been implemented on July 9, 2026.
What Happened in Delmarva Power’s Current Rate Case?
The timing of SB 326 coincided with a major electric distribution rate case already underway before the Delaware Public Service Commission.
Delmarva Power filed PSC Docket No. 25-1555 on December 9, 2025, seeking approximately $67.8 million in additional annual distribution revenue (i.e. $67.8 million more from its customers annually through increased rates). That total includes approximately $44.6 million in new base-rate revenue and the transfer of approximately $23.2 million already being paid by customers through the Distribution System Improvement Charge, or DSIC, into base rates. (DSIC is a mechanism that allows utilities to make certain investments and start recovering the costs of those investments in between base rate cases.)
The December 9, 2025 filing began a lengthy regulatory process through which the Commission will determine how much of the rate increase should be allowed. It does not mean the entire requested increase was automatically approved.
As the case proceeded, Delmarva Power became eligible to implement interim rates beginning July 9, 2026. Delmarva Power initially asserted that SB 326 should not apply to this rate case and later that SB 326 should not apply to the amounts already in DSIC. The Public Advocate opposed Delmarva Power on both issues.
The Commission ruled that SB 326 did apply and limited the interim increase to 50% of the total increase at issue, substantially reducing the amount of the interim rate increase that could have gone into effect compared to the 100% allowed prior to SB 326. These interim rates took effect July 9.
This ruling by the Commission is only on interim rates; the Commission has not yet ruled on Delmarva Power’s full rate increase request. The underlying rate case continues, and the Public Advocate, Commission Staff, and other parties will continue examining the company’s requested costs, investments and proposed return.
So, How Does a Delaware Rate Case Actually Work?
Utility rate cases can be difficult to follow because they operate more like court proceedings than traditional government meetings.
Here is the basic process:
1. The utility files an application.
A regulated utility asks the Public Service Commission for permission to change its rates and submits testimony, financial information and other evidence supporting its request.
2. The Commission opens a formal docket and reviews the request.
For a significant rate increase, the proposed rates are generally suspended while the case proceeds. The matter may be assigned to a Hearing Examiner, and Commission Staff, the Public Advocate, and other approved parties participate in the case.
3. The parties investigate the filing.
This is where much of the work happens behind the scenes. The Public Advocate and its experts review the utility’s request, ask questions through formal discovery, examine spending and investment decisions and determine whether the requested costs should be borne by ratepayers (customers).
4. Interim rates may take effect while the case is pending.
A full rate case can take many months, often well more than a year. Delaware law allows a utility to collect a portion of its requested increase before the case concludes. SB 326 has placed significant limits on how much can be collected during this interim period.
5. Public comment becomes part of the process.
The Commission holds public comment sessions where customers can speak directly about the proposed rate increase, affordability, reliability, service quality and other issues affecting them.
6. Evidentiary hearings are held.
These are formal, quasi-judicial proceedings. Attorneys and parties present evidence, witnesses provide testimony and are subject to cross-examination, and a record is developed for the Commission’s consideration. These proceedings typically happen before a Hearing Examiner, rather than the full Commission.
7. The Commission makes its final decision.
After considering the evidence and recommendations developed through the case, the five-member Commission determines the new rates the utility may charge.
Your Voice Is Part of the Record
That brings us to one of the most important dates in this case.
The Public Service Commission will hold a Public Comment Session on Delmarva Power’s electric rate case, Docket No. 25-1555, on Wednesday, August 19, at 6:00 p.m.
The session will be held in a hybrid format, allowing members of the public to participate in person at the PSC’s Hearing Room in Dover or participate remotely.
Why does this matter?
The Public Service Commission is a quasi-judicial body. Commissioners ultimately must make their decision based on the record developed in the proceeding. A rate case is therefore very different from a legislative debate, town hall or traditional public meeting.
The technical evidentiary hearings are primarily for formal parties, witnesses, attorneys, and experts. Members of the public generally do not have an opportunity to simply stand up during those hearings and tell Commissioners what they are experiencing.
The public comment session is specifically designed to give you that opportunity.
If your electric bill has become difficult to afford, tell the Commission.
If you have concerns about the size or frequency of rate increases, tell the Commission.
If reliability or service quality has affected your home or business, tell the Commission.
And if there are issues you believe the Commission should consider as it evaluates this request, this is your opportunity to put those concerns before them.
You do not need to be an attorney, an energy expert or understand every page of a utility’s rate filing.
The Public Advocate will continue representing the interests of Delaware ratepayers throughout the remainder of the case and examining Delmarva Power’s request to determine whether the costs the company seeks to recover are just and reasonable and prudent for customers to bear. The Public Advocate will oppose any amounts that are not just, reasonable, or prudent.
We encourage customers to join the Public Comment Session Wednesday, August 19 at 6:00 p.m. and make your voice part of the process. Because when decisions are being made about what Delawareans pay for an essential service, Delawareans should be heard.
There is also the opportunity to provide Public Comment during each Commission meeting; those comments will not formally become part of the rate case record, but they do provide an opportunity for customers to provide their voice directly to the Commission.