There's a reason Halloween feels like the unofficial kickoff to the holiday lighting season. Skeletons strung with fairy lights, jack-o'-lanterns flickering on porches, animatronic ghosts groaning from the bushes — it's one of the most decorated holidays of the year, and most of us never stop to think about what's actually powering the spookiness. But behind every glowing pumpkin and strobing porch light is a small, seasonal spike in energy demand that's worth understanding, especially if you want your decorations to be both dazzling and safe.
Few fall traditions are as energy intensive as tailgating. Grills fired up before sunrise, portable TVs tuned to pre-game coverage, coolers running on generator power, string lights strung between trucks as the sun goes down — a good tailgate is basically a pop-up outdoor kitchen and entertainment center, built from scratch in a parking lot. It's a great time. It's also a small masterclass in portable power management, whether tailgaters realize it or not.
Pennsylvania’s deregulated market is a win-win for everyone involved because it produces competitive, low utility rates for residents, removes generation costs for utility companies, and stimulates the state’s business and financial growth.
There’s encouraging news for natural gas customers heading into winter. The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s October 6 Winter Fuels Outlook 2026-27 projects lower natural gas prices and lower average household natural gas spending nationally, with an especially favorable outlook for the Northeast.
Community involvement has long been part of who we are at UGI Energy Services (UGIES) and this September was no exception. Between our annual Charity Golf Outing and our company-wide Day of Caring, our employees came together to support causes across our footprint, from Berks County to Southwestern Pennsylvania.
Every fall, there's a specific week when the debate starts in households everywhere: is it time to flip the thermostat from cooling to heating? Mornings are chilly enough for a sweater, but afternoons still feel like summer's last stand. Flip too early and you're paying to heat a house that doesn't need it yet. Flip too late and you're shivering through your coffee. It turns out there's real logic — and money — behind getting this timing right.
Doctors rely on healthcare facilities for a range of services, including surgery, exams, and mental health services for the people who need them. But doctors can only deliver that care when the facilities around them are running reliably. Without reliable and efficient energy, critical operations can falter — making it harder for doctors and care teams to be there for patients when their health needs them most.
Engineers are the foundational builders of modern society, translating theory into practice. Energy engineers, more specifically, optimize how power is produced and consumed—quite literally keeping the lights and heat on for millions of homes and businesses. Reliability like that depends on a steady pipeline of skilled engineers entering the field.
Throughout the academic year, educational institutions should regularly review and update their energy plan. Through energy planning, an educational institution can see how it buys, uses, and reduces energy across its locations. From there, an institution finds ways to cut costs and improve reliability.
Farmers have always found ways to work smarter with what they have. Early farmers learned to read the land, rotate crops, and build systems that could weather uncertainty. Today, that same ingenuity is being applied to one of agriculture's most pressing challenges: energy.