The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission has released its 2011 Utility Consumer Activities Report and Evaluation.   Both requests for payment agreements and overall complaints about utilities increased last year.

The complaints come to the PUC after customers are unable to resolve an issue with a utility, and there was an 8% increase in customer contacts that required commission review.

PUC spokeswoman Denise McCracken says weather may have played a role. Events like Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee caused numerous outages last year, along with the October snowstorm.

McCracken says many complaints dealt with payment arrangements, but there were also increases in other contacts, including complaints about personnel.

The PUC is reviewing the areas of increased complaints.