SmartEnergy in Pennsylvania: a 6-month plan, a high price and a good BBB grade

SmartEnergy is a supplier, not your utility. Your utility still delivers the power and answers the phone in an outage; SmartEnergy only sets the price you pay for the electricity itself. In Pennsylvania the company lists no 12-month plan on PA Power Switch or on its own site. What we could price is a 6-month fixed plan, 100% renewable, sold on the web.

Because the term is only 6 months, we scored its price on that plan, as our method says to use the plan that exists. The company says every plan is "100% certified renewable," matched with renewable energy certificates.

Choose your utility. The tool lists every SmartEnergy plan on the state's list for your area, from today's data, and sets each against your price to compare at your own use.

This reads our robot's latest copy of PA Power Switch, so it can show a plan the day it appears or says none is listed. It is supply cost only, not a bill, and it saves nothing you type. SmartEnergy sells in some utility areas and not others, so an empty answer is real.

Higher, by a wide margin. On the state's cards, SmartEnergy's 6-month plan sat well over the reference prices to compare that we score against.

On average the plan came to 124.3% of the reference, which earns 3 of 20 points for price. At 1,000 kWh a month, each 1¢ of gap is about $10 a month. Over 6 months, a 3¢ gap is close to $180. Utilities reset the price to compare on Dec. 1 in several areas, so look at today's number before you sign.

A short plan is not a flaw by itself, but it moves the work to you. Pennsylvania rules say your supplier must write to you twice before a fixed deal ends. The first letter comes 45 to 60 days ahead, and an options letter follows at least 30 days ahead. On a 6-month plan that cycle repeats twice a year.

1. Day 1You sign. Note the end date and the 3-business-day right to cancel.
2. Month 4The first end-of-term letter should arrive, 45 to 60 days before the end.
3. Month 5The options letter, at least 30 days before the end. Compare your utility's price.
4. Month 6The plan ends. Choose a new plan or return to your utility.

If you do nothing, the contract may roll to a new term or price. Compare the new number with your utility's before you let it.

We show these records as they stand, with their dates, and no more.

The BBB profile covers the whole company, not Pennsylvania alone, and a count does not say who was right. Use it as a guide to what to check in your own contract, such as the price after the term, the bill and the way you were signed up.

Actions in other states

Regulators in Maryland (Apr. 28, 2025), New York (Mar. 21, 2022), Illinois (2019, the Attorney General) and Ohio (2019, the PUCO) took actions involving SmartEnergy. We score Pennsylvania records only, so none of them counts in the score, and we did not re-read them for this page.

Our October read of SmartEnergy's terms found no cancel fee on the 6-month plan. The terms allow "$10 per month remaining" on fixed plans that carry a fee, so check yours. They send disputes to binding arbitration or small claims court under American Arbitration Association rules, and they do not allow class actions. We found no way to opt out.

Ask for the contract in writing, and check the price for the months after the term, since a 6-month deal can renew at a new price.

With no cancel fee on the 6-month plan, leaving is simple. The cost is timing: avoid a gap with no plan.

1. 1
   Choose the plan or utility you move to first.

   Do this before you end anything, so your power supply never lapses.

2. 2
   Let the new seller start the switch.

   SmartEnergy stops on the switch date. You do not call it to turn the service off.

3. 3
   File the confirmation.

   Keep the letter that gives your new start date next to your SmartEnergy end date.

4. 4
   Read the first bill after the switch.

   It should show no SmartEnergy supply line. If it does, call SmartEnergy with the bill in hand.

Scores for every supplier we cover sit in our Pennsylvania supplier ranking, and how we score explains each category.

1. 1
   Start with SmartEnergy.

   Write down the date, the agent's name and what was promised, since its terms send later disputes to arbitration.

2. 2
   Tell your utility if you never signed.

   A switch you did not approve must be reported within your first two billing periods; SmartEnergy cannot bill you for that stretch.

3. 3
   Take it to the PUC.

   Use the informal complaint form at puc.pa.gov/complaints or call 800.692.7380 once the company has had its chance.