Letter to the editor: Go 'green' and stop funding Putin's war

Duquesne Light recently announced a substantial rate increase in energy supply cost for residential customers due to a sharp rise in the worldwide price of natural gas. If you are looking for someone to blame, you could curse Vladimir Putin and his war against Ukraine. But I recommend a different course of action: Choose a different energy supplier.

Your monthly electric bill has two roughly equal parts: distribution and supply. Your electric distribution company depends on your neighborhood and can’t be changed, and the price is relatively stable. But you have the choice of who supplies that energy to Duquesne Light. If, like most customers, you have been leaving the choice of supplier to Duquesne Light, your electricity comes mainly from burning fossil fuels, and you are about to see about a 20% increase in supply costs, which will bring the cost per kilowatt-hour to within about seven-tenths of a penny of renewable energy suppliers.

At that rate, a typical household will spend only about $5 per month more to “go green” than to continue contributing to Putin’s war. Check out your supply options today, and take action.

Alfred B. (Fred) Bortz

Wilkinsburg