Citizens' Electric Company

What Citizens' Electric Company does

Citizens' Electric Company is an investor-owned electric distribution utility headquartered at 1775 Industrial Blvd., Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, serving approximately 7,118 customers (5,913 residential, 1,128 commercial, 41 industrial, 36 lighting) across a 55-square-mile exclusive service territory in Union County. Founded in 1911 and operating under Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission oversight, Citizens' has been a subsidiary of C&T Enterprises, Inc. since 1999, with C&T jointly owned by Claverack Rural Electric Cooperative and Tri-County Rural Electric Cooperative. The company delivers more than 160 million kWh of electricity annually through approximately 220 miles of 12,470-volt overhead and underground distribution lines fed by a single 69,000-volt substation.

The company's core technology footprint includes an Automated Meter Reading (AMR) system installed in 2004 that provides hourly consumption data and meter voltage access from any employee workstation, alongside digitized distribution system maps linking engineering data to mapped assets. The customer-facing digital platform is SmartHub, which supports electronic bill presentment, payment processing, outage reporting, and energy-usage visibility across web and mobile applications. Additional product lines include Auto Pay, Budget Billing, the Dollar Energy Fund matching program, Net Metering/Distributed Energy Resources with Virtual Meter Aggregation, Pole Attachments for communications providers, and the recently launched Energy Efficiency information page.

Citizens' revenue model is a regulated distribution utility structure: distribution charges recover expenses to operate and maintain poles, wires, substations, and administrative functions under PUC-approved rates, while Generation Supply Service Rates (GSSR-1 and GSSR-2) and transmission charges are straight pass-through costs on which the company does not profit. Generation and transmission pricing is set through semi-annual PUC filings (effective June 1 and December 1), with large commercial and industrial customers above 400 kW peak load billed at real-time hourly market prices plus an administrative adder. Customers may also choose an alternative Electric Generation Supplier under the Customer Choice program, first offered by Citizens' to 100% of customers in 1996, while Citizens' continues to deliver electricity and maintain the distribution system.

Name

Citizens' Electric Company

Legal name

Citizens' Electric Company of Lewisburg, PA

Website

https://citizenselectric.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1911

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Citizens' Electric Company is a regulated investor-owned electric distribution utility founded in 1911, serving approximately 7,118 residential, commercial, industrial, and lighting customers across a 55-square-mile territory in Union County, Pennsylvania, under Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission oversight.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Electric Distribution Services

NAICS

Electric Power Transmission, Control, and Distribution (22112), Electric Power Distribution (221122)

SIC

Electric Services (4911), Electric, Gas & Sanitary Services (4900)

akta.pro primary industry

Electric Distribution System Owners (Wires-Only Companies) (EUADABAI)

akta.pro secondary industry

Meter Installation, Exchange & Field Services (EUADAFAF)

Keywords

• Electric distribution services
• Regulated utility services
• Residential electric service
• Default energy supply
• Customer choice electricity

Headquarters

HQ city

Lewisburg

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Infrastructure, Supply Chain, Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Electric Distribution Services: Regulated distribution charges recover expenses to expand, improve, operate and maintain substations, poles, wires and services necessary to deliver energy to the meter, as well as all administrative and clerical functions. Distribution rates are regulated by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission.
2. Generation Supply Service Rates (GSSR): GSSR-1 is the unregulated wholesale cost of energy that Citizens' Electric purchases and delivers to default service residential customers and commercial customers whose peak load is less than 400 kW. GSSR-2 is an Administrative Adder for commercial and industrial customers with peak load greater than 400 kW. Both are straight pass-through charges where Citizens' Electric does not profit.
3. Transmission Charges: Delivery of energy from where it is generated to the distribution substations. Transmission costs are included in the generation rates and are a pass-through to customers.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels6 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Citizens' Electric Company is an investor-owned, regulated electric distribution utility that delivers electricity to approximately 7,118 residential, commercial, industrial, and lighting customers across roughly 55 square miles in Union County, Pennsylvania, through a 69,000 volt substation and approximately 220 miles of 12,470 volt distribution lines. The company also procures and provides default wholesale generation supply service (GSSR-1 and GSSR-2) for customers who do not select an alternative Electric Generation Supplier, and offers the SmartHub customer self-service platform for billing, payment, and outage reporting.

Product overview

Citizens' Electric Company is an investor-owned electric distribution utility serving approximately 7,118 customers in Lewisburg, PA and surrounding Union County. The company's product portfolio centers on its electric distribution service (delivering over 160,000,000 kWh annually through 220 miles of distribution lines), complemented by Generation Supply Service Rates (GSSR) for default energy procurement. The customer-facing digital platform is SmartHub, which provides electronic bill presentation, payment processing, and energy usage monitoring via web and mobile apps. Additional service offerings include Auto Pay and Budget Billing for payment flexibility, a Net Metering/DER program for customer-owned renewable generation, Pole Attachments for communications providers, and the Dollar Energy Fund for low-income assistance. The company also provides customer protection programs including Double Notice Protection and Act 201 Payment Arrangements.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• SmartHub Citizens' electronic bill presentation and payment platform providing 24/7 online account access, bill viewing, payment history, energy usage details, outage reporting, and service requests, available via web and mobile apps for end-user customers.
• Auto Pay Free automatic bill payment program that debits a customer's checking or savings account on the due date each month, eliminating the need to manually process payments.
• Budget Billing Levelized billing program for residential customers that evens out seasonal fluctuations in monthly electric bills by calculating payments based on the average of the last twelve months of energy consumption.
• Dollar Energy Fund Energy assistance grant program partnered with community-based agencies to help low-income residential customers pay electric bills, with Citizens' Electric matching all customer donations 100%.
• Energy Efficiency Programs Suite of interactive home energy and appliance energy calculators, educational materials for adults and children, and conservation resources including tips on heating, cooling, lighting, and major appliances.
• Generation Supply Service Rates (GSSR) Default energy procurement service for customers who do not choose an alternative supplier. GSSR-1 covers residential and commercial customers with peak load under 400 kW; GSSR-2 applies to commercial and industrial customers with peak load over 400 kW. Rates are adjusted semi-annually through competitive bid procurement.
• Customer Choice Program Electric Choice program allowing customers to select their Electric Generation Supplier (EGS) based on price, products, incentives, and generation type preferences including nuclear, coal, or green energy options, while Citizens' continues to deliver electricity and maintain the distribution system.
• Net Metering / Distributed Energy Resources (DER) Program allowing residential and small commercial customers to install renewable generation (solar, wind, hydro) behind their electric meter to offset consumption and sell excess production to the grid, including Virtual Meter Aggregation for customers with multiple accounts.
• Pole Attachments Space rental program allowing third-party and local incumbent communications providers to attach cables and equipment to Citizens' poles, with One-Touch Make-Ready process and Self-Help remedies per FCC regulations.
• Double Notice Protection Customer protection program that sends a copy of any disconnection notice to a designated third party as an additional reminder to help avoid service disconnection.
• Act 201 Payment Arrangements Responsible Utility Customer Protection Act program establishing payment arrangement terms for customers to repay past due balances, including Winter Moratorium protections (December 1 through March 31).
• Electric Distribution Service Regulated electric distribution service delivering electricity to approximately 7,118 residential, commercial, industrial, and lighting customers across a 55 square mile service territory in Union County, Pennsylvania, through a 69,000 volt substation and approximately 220 miles of distribution lines.

Quantifiable outcome

• Delivers over 160,000,000 kWh of electricity annually with high reliability
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• C&T Enterprises, Inc.coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 1999C&T Enterprises is an unregulated utility holding company jointly owned by Claverack Rural Electric Cooperative (Wysox, PA) and Tri-County Rural Electric Cooperative (Mansfield, PA), 50% each. Citizens' Electric became a subsidiary of C&T in 1999. C&T provides specialized management services including Corporate Safety, Information Technology, Financial Services, Call Center operations, Human Resources, Payroll and Communications support. C&T also owns Wellsboro Electric Company and Valley Energy.
• Wellsboro Electric CompanyminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSister company owned by C&T Enterprises. Wellsboro is an electric distribution company serving 6,381 customers in Tioga County, Pennsylvania. Combined with Citizens' and Valley Energy, the C&T family serves nearly 60,000 electric and natural gas consumers with approximately 180 employees.
• Valley EnergyminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSister company owned by C&T Enterprises. Valley Energy is a natural gas distribution company serving more than 8,000 customers in Sayre, Athens, Towanda and Monroeton, Pennsylvania.
• Dollar Energy FundcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNon-profit fuel fund organization that is the third largest in the United States. Partners with community-based agencies to provide energy assistance grants to low-income residential customers. The partner utility companies match every dollar donated; 100% of contributions are used to provide energy grants. Citizens' Electric matches every dollar donated by customers.
• PJM Interconnection, LLCcoreTechnology or IntegrationRegional transmission operator. DSP-VI includes all generation and transmission costs as well as all ancillary costs from PJM Interconnection required to deliver default wholesale supply to Citizens' Electric.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Met-Ed (FirstEnergy): FirstEnergy subsidiary providing electric distribution service across eastern and central Pennsylvania. Comparable regulatory and product model (wires-only distribution), but serves a much larger multi-county footprint.
• PPL Electric Utilities: One of the largest investor-owned electric distribution utilities in Pennsylvania, serving over 1.4 million customers. Operates under the same PA PUC regulatory framework as Citizens' but at vastly greater scale.
• Duquesne Light Company: Investor-owned electric distribution utility serving the Pittsburgh metro area. Operates under PA PUC regulation with the same wires-only distribution model as Citizens', but at urban scale.
• Penelec (FirstEnergy): FirstEnergy Pennsylvania electric distribution subsidiary serving western and northern PA. Comparable PA PUC regulated distribution business model, though operating at greater scale and broader geographic reach.
• PECO Energy: Exelon subsidiary providing electric distribution to over 1.6 million customers in southeastern Pennsylvania. Same PA PUC regulatory framework and distribution-only business model, but far larger than Citizens'.

Direct peers

• Wellsboro Electric Company: Sister company under C&T Enterprises and fellow small investor-owned electric distribution utility in Tioga County, PA, serving 6,381 customers. Operates under the same PA PUC regulatory framework and shares back-office services with Citizens'.
• Tri-County Rural Electric Cooperative: Member-owned cooperative in Mansfield, PA; 50% owner of C&T Enterprises. Comparable in scale, service model, and Pennsylvania geography to Citizens' Electric.
• Claverack Rural Electric Cooperative: Member-owned electric cooperative in Wysox, PA; 50% owner of C&T Enterprises (Citizens' parent). Operates a similar small-scale electric distribution business in rural Pennsylvania under a cooperative charter.

Regional players

• Valley Energy: Sister company under C&T Enterprises, serving as a natural gas distribution utility in northern Pennsylvania. Operates in adjacent utility infrastructure space with shared corporate services, but in a different energy commodity.
• UGI Utilities: Investor-owned electric and natural gas utility operating in central and eastern Pennsylvania. Same PA PUC regulatory environment and utility model, but broader service territory and diversified energy commodity exposure.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/CitizensElectric.LewisburgPA
• Xx.com/CitElectric

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles13 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Citizens' Electric Company