PHILADELPHIA, February 25, 2026 — We culled spreadsheets. We did math. And what we found: Fishtown didn’t wait for the headlines. While PECO was quietly raising rates — up 47.7% in net profits last year alone, following years of steady rate increases that most Philadelphia homeowners are only now feeling — Fishtown was already building its way out.

2017 was a breakout year. Fourteen Solar States installations across the neighborhood — and Fishtown never looked back. Before the policy debates, before the utility rate headlines, before solar was in the news and at the dinner tables, Fishtown was doing it.

Seventy-seven homes later, 406 kilowatts of clean energy capacity now sits across the neighborhood’s rooftops. E Palmer Street, E Cumberland Street, and E Sergeant Street each have four Solar States installations — a three-way tie for the most solar-dense streets in the neighborhood! The 1300 block of E Palmer Street and the 2400 block of E Cumberland Street each have three homes side by side, all solar.

PECO rates have climbed steadily and show no signs of slowing. Surging electricity demand and the broader electrification of homes and vehicles has triggered significant increases in PJM capacity auction costs — a regional grid charge that flows directly onto every Philadelphia electric bill. Layer on the costs of maintaining aging infrastructure and…well, everybody should decide for themselves what rates will continue to do in this environment. You can guess what we expect here.

Solar States clients in 19125 got off that escalator years ago. Most of them before the escalator was even a topic.

Today, Solar States offers two ways to do the same. Homeowners who purchase a system own their energy outright — no utility, no escalating rate, no surprises. Homeowners who lease pay a fixed monthly rate that, in many cases, never goes up. Either way, the math works. Your PECO bill doesn’t have to keep climbing just because PECO wants it to.

Solar States is a Philadelphia-based Certified B Corporation founded in 2008 with a dual-mission to install solar and educate the next generation of solar installers. We have completed more than 2,000 installations across the region (PA, NJ, DE), saving clients over $15 million in utility costs. Over 500 students graduated from our workforce development program, Find Your Power.

Move the slider. Watch PECO’s take grow.