Carbon County is locking in its electricity pricing as costs increase in Pennsylvania.

On Thursday, the county commissioners ratified an agreement with Constellation NewEnergy Inc. of Houston, Texas for the purchase of electricity for 46 service accounts, effective August 2022, for a term of 36 months. The fixed price is 10.636 cents as recommended by Apollo Edison, the company hired to conduct the electricity auction.

Carbon County had to go out to bid on the electricity sooner than the original contract end date due to the previous provider, Talen Energy Marketing LLC of Allentown, going out of business, Commissioner Rocky Ahner said.

There were 10 bidders with this auction that supplied per kilowatt hour fixed rates for 12-, 24-, 36-, 48- and 60-month contracts.

Commissioner Chris Lukasevich pointed out that all bids were nearly double, if not more from the previous contract held by Talen.

“We recognized that we had to strike a balance between rate and term of contract so that we retained some flexibility should the energy rates drop thus the 36-month term versus the 60,” he said.

Carbon County has been conducting electricity auctions since 2010 after the electric deregulation occurred.

At that time, the county was servicing approximately 40 accounts and used nearly 3 million kilowatt hours annually.