Editorial methodology

Plan and rate data — PA Power Switch

Pennsylvania's official Public Utility Commission shopping site is the canonical source for licensed competitive supplier plans in PA. We scrape PA Power Switch weekly via automated process. Each scrape pulls current plans for all PA utility territories.

Default rates (Price to Compare) — utility filings

Each PA utility files its Price to Compare with the PA PUC quarterly (PECO, Duquesne Light) or semi-annually (PPL and FirstEnergy subsidiaries). We pull rates from utility-published filings and verify against PA PUC records.

Generation data — EIA

The U.S. Energy Information Administration provides authoritative data on PA electricity generation mix, capacity, and consumption. We cite EIA when discussing the underlying generation context.

Wholesale market data — PJM Interconnection

PJM's published capacity auction results, demand forecasts, and market filings are our source for PJM-related content.

Customer demographics — U.S. Census ACS

Population, household, and housing data comes from the most recent American Community Survey 5-year estimates.

Regulatory information — PA PUC

Licensing status, complaints, and regulatory actions come from PA Public Utility Commission records.

Weekly

All competitive supplier plan data refreshed via automated scrape. New plans added, expired plans removed, rates updated.

Quarterly

Utility Price to Compare data updated when utilities file new rates. Blog posts about specific utility PTCs get refreshed at this cadence.

Annually

Major editorial review of evergreen content (guides, audience pages). Census data refresh when new ACS vintage releases.

As events occur

Market analysis posts (PJM auctions, regulatory actions, major rate filings) published when material events happen.

Sort order

Plans are sorted by rate (lowest first) within each filtered set. Period. No paid placements, no sponsored rankings, no editorial “recommendations” that override the data.

Filtering

Different page types apply different filters. For example:

• Plan-type pages filter to that plan type
• Audience-targeted pages filter to plans matching the audience profile
• Comparison pages filter to fixed-rate, 3+ month plans for headline savings claims

All filter logic is documented in our internal page templates and applied consistently.

Plan visibility

All PUC-licensed competitive suppliers serving PA appear on the site. Suppliers without active residential plans don't appear by default but can be searched for. We don't exclude any licensed supplier from search results.

Plan descriptions

Plan descriptions are pulled directly from supplier-submitted Plan Information Documents (PIDs) available via PA Power Switch. We don't paraphrase or rewrite — what you see is what the supplier wrote.

What affiliate links do NOT do:

• Affect which plans appear on the site (all licensed suppliers are eligible regardless of affiliate status)
• Affect plan rankings (sorted by rate, not commission)
• Affect how plans are described (descriptions come from supplier PIDs)
• Increase the price you pay (your rate is the same whether you arrive via Volt Butler or directly through the supplier)

What affiliate links DO:

• Compensate Volt Butler for editorial work — which is what funds the site's continued operation as an independent publication

We are not a broker.

Volt Butler is not licensed by the PA PUC as a competitive supplier or broker. We do not enroll customers. We do not handle billing. We are an information and comparison publisher.

We do not accept paid editorial.

No supplier, advertiser, or third party can pay for editorial coverage, ranking improvements, or featured placement.

We do not share personal data.

ZIP codes entered into our comparison forms are used to display location-relevant plans and may be shared with the supplier you enroll with (if you enroll). We don't sell or share personal data otherwise. See our privacy policy for complete details.

We do not guarantee specific savings.

Plan rates, terms, and availability change. We display current data accurately, but we can't guarantee what any individual will save by switching.