First, there’s the good news: “Local gasoline and heating oil prices are projected to go down in the short term, with natural gas prices following this winter. And for many — but not all — locally, electricity prices are going down,” LNP ‘ LancasterOnline’s Lisa Scheid reported Sunday.

As Scheid explained, “On June 1, PPL, Lancaster County’s largest electricity supplier, is set to lower its price-to-compare rate by 17%, to 12.126 cents per kilowatt-hour.”

Then, there’s the bad news: The energy cost reductions, while very welcome, won’t be enough to make electricity affordable for everyone when the weather heats up.

This could be devastating.

As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention points out, people ages 65 and older, children younger than 2 and people with chronic illnesses are among those at greatest risk for serious heat-related conditions such as heat exhaustion, heatstroke and dehydration. Low-income individuals and communities of color are also vulnerable to heat’s worst effects.

Heat kills more people each year — an estimated 1,300 Americans — than any other weather-related event, the Boston Globe Media health news website Stat reported last year.

Imagine living in a third-floor walk-up apartment in Lancaster County without electricity and air conditioning on a hot July day. It would be unbearable. And dangerous.

As the “Lancaster Watchdog” column explained, utilities that are controlled by the Public Utility Commission cannot be shut off in income-eligible Pennsylvania households between Dec. 1 and March 31 unless the utility receives permission from the commission.

But even that winter shutoff moratorium is slated to expire Dec. 14, 2024, unless Pennsylvania House Bill 1077 — introduced by state Rep. Robert Matzie of Beaver County — passes and the moratorium is extended through 2034. (Matzie is the Democratic chair of the state House Consumer Protection, Technology & Utilities Committee.)

The bill would also prohibit the imposition of a reconnection fee on anyone at or below 300% of the federal poverty level, which for a single-person household in 2023 is an annual income of $40,770.

And, crucially, the bill would add a summer service termination moratorium from July 1 through Aug. 31 for anyone at or below 250% of the federal poverty level. This strikes us as necessary.

Given Lancaster County’s long history of generosity toward our neighbors experiencing hardship, we would hope that members of the county’s delegation to Harrisburg would support this legislation.

In the “Lancaster Watchdog” column, state House Republican Leader Bryan Cutler, of Drumore Township, said, “It should absolutely be more affordable to live in Pennsylvania, and that is especially true when we are talking about the skyrocketing costs Pennsylvanians pay to heat and cool their homes and turn the lights on.”

We hope that other Lancaster County lawmakers realize that not every county resident can afford these necessities, and act accordingly on those constituents’ behalf.

We love the summertime but, as with any season, it has its downsides. The “Lancaster Watchdog” column cited this fact from Kyle Elliott, director of Millersville University’s Weather Information Center: Between June 1 and Aug. 21, 2022, there were 20 days that reached or exceeded 90 degrees at Millersville University. Lancaster Airport in Lititz had 29 days at or exceeding 90 degrees in that period.

One extremely hot day without electricity is too much for anyone to have to endure, let alone 20-plus days. Pennsylvania lawmakers: Please support state House Bill 1077.

— LNP/LancasterOnline