(File Photo: Source for Photo: FILE – Wind turbines stand in fields near Palm Springs, Calif, March 22, 2023. Electricity generated from renewables surpassed coal in the United States for the first time in 2022, the U.S. Energy Information Administration announced Monday, March 27, 2023. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis, File)

(Reported by Danielle Smith, Keystone News Service)

(Harrisburg, PA) As electricity costs are expected to rise this summer, Democratic lawmakers in the Pennsylvania House are advancing a package of bills to lower energy costs. Lawmakers say one in five households in the state has difficulty paying monthly utility bills. Representative Elizabeth Fiedler, who chairs the House Energy Committee, says the six-bill package is designed to ease financial pressure on families. She points out these affordability bills would help people feel less financially strained.  Fiedler’s bill, House Bill 2223, has already passed unanimously. It would require utility companies to upgrade existing transmission lines before building new infrastructure, a move supporters say could prevent higher costs for customers.