There are two components of a gas or electric bill. One portion is the commodity itself - by PA law the utility makes no money on the commodity - it’s a pass thru. Natural gas prices have surged due to a number of factors including the war in Ukraine. Since quite a bit of our electricity is also generated by natural gas, the gas cost increases impact electricity too. There is a quarterly adjustment to the price that the PUC approves to make sure the utility is making no money on the commodity.

The remainder of the bill is a flat fee (approved by the PUC), as well as transmission and distribution charges (also approved by the PUC). Utilities have massive investments in the pipes, wires and other infrastructure that delivers the commodities to your homes. That infrastructure costs money to build and maintain. The providers of the capital to build that infrastructure are guaranteed a rate of return in order to invest due to the long payback period on the investment (20-30 years in some cases). That rate of return is set by the PUC and managed through a public rate making process - you can literally attend the hearings in Harrisburg if you wish.

Utilities rarely get everything they ask for in a rate case and often settle for less - resulting in less than optimal maintenance of this vital infrastructure.

Unfortunately we are paying for years of under investing. No one is getting rich on this - in fact quite a bit of utility stock is held in retirement funds by unions and other group investors due to its stable steady return.

Source - I work close to this industry.