PPL Corporation

The PPL Corporation is an energy company headquartered in Allentown, Pennsylvania, United States. It currently controls about 8,000 megawatts of regulated electric generating capacity in the United States and delivers electricity to 10.5 million customers in Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and Great Britain. PPL is the parent to seven regulated utility companies in the U.S.[2], and it also provides natural gas delivery service to 321,000 customers in Kentucky. PPL Electric Utilities (formerly known as PP&L and Pennsylvania Power and Light) is the PPL Corporation's primary subsidiary.

"PPL" redirects here. For other uses, see PPL (disambiguation).
PPL Corporation
Public
Traded as
ISINUS69351T1060 
IndustryElectric utilities
FoundedJune 4, 1920 (June 4, 1920)
Headquarters
Allentown, Pennsylvania
,
U.S.
Key people
William H. Spence (Chairman, President and CEO)
Revenue US$7.8 billion (Q4 2018)
US$1.956 billion (Q4 2018)
Number of employees
12,512[1] (2017)
Websitepplweb.com

The majority of PPL's power plants burn coal, oil, or natural gas. PPL also owns peaking plants, which require few operators and have a high profit margin due to their ability to rapidly come online when the price of electricity spikes.

The company is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange.

History

Pennsylvania Power & Light was founded in 1920 out of a merger of eight smaller Pennsylvania utilities. It gradually extended its service territory to a crescent-shaped region of central and northeastern Pennsylvania stretching from Lancaster, through the Lehigh Valley into Scranton and Wilkes-Barre. In 1995, it reorganized as a holding company, PP&L Resources, which changed its name to the current PPL Corporation in 2000.

The company limited its activities to Pennsylvania until deregulation of electrical utilities in the 1990s encouraged PPL to purchase assets in other states. The largest of these transactions was PPL's 1998 purchase of 13 plants from Montana Power (leaving NorthWestern Energy - the buyer of the former Montana Power transmission and distribution systems - vulnerable to high "spot" prices on the energy market). This added over 2,500 MW of capacity and was the largest expansion in PPL's history. In 2014, those hydroelectric facilities were sold to NorthWestern.[3]

In May 2002, PPL announced that Robert G. Byram, PPL's chief nuclear officer since 1997, was retiring from the company. Bryce L. Shriver, who had served as vice president-Nuclear Site Operations at PPL's Susquehanna plant since 2000, became senior vice president and chief nuclear officer.[4]

PPL's 2008 revenue was $8.2 billion, with a net profit of $930 million, making it number 314 on the 2009 Fortune 500 list.[5]

In March 2011, PPL acquired from E.ON the British distribution company Central Networks for £3.5 billion.[6] After acquiring Central Networks and LG&E, PPL's 2011 profit rose to $1.495 billion, on $12.7 billion in revenue, ranking it number 212 on Fortune's 2012 list.[7]

On June 6, 2014, PPL announced it will be divesting its electrical generation facilities to a newly formed company, Talen Energy.[8] On June 1, 2015, the Talen spinoff was completed, allowing PPL to concentrate on the transmission and distribution aspects of the electric utility business.[9]

On July 1, 2016, PPL Solutions, LLC was sold to Hansen Technologies Limited.[10] PPL Solutions provides billing, business process outsourcing, call center, and information technology services to regulated utilities in the United States.

Subsidiaries

Controversy in foreign subsidiary

After the takeover in 2000 of Wales' largest company, Hyder, to form half of Western Power Distribution (a UK-based energy distribution company and subsidiary of PPL), a local beauty spot and part Site of Special Scientific Interest in the Welsh capital city of Cardiff, called Llanishen Reservoir, was acquired as an asset.[11][12][13][14]

Customer satisfaction

PPL Electric Utilities, which serves 1.4 million customers in 29 counties of Pennsylvania in the United States, has received 15 J.D. Power and Associates awards for customer satisfaction — more than any other utility in the United States.[15]

In June, 2013, J.D. Power announced that PPL EnergyPlus ranked highest in the state for residential customer satisfaction in J.D. Power's first study of competitive electricity suppliers in Pennsylvania.[16]

Headquarters
The PPL Building is the tallest building in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

PPL Building
Main article: PPL Building

The PPL Building is now the tallest building in not just Allentown, but in the greater Lehigh Valley, after the demolition of the Martin Tower on May 19, 2019. The building has 23 stories and is 322 feet (98 m) tall. It is located at the intersection of Hamilton and Ninth Streets in the downtown area of the city.

The Plaza at PPL Center

In June 2003, PPL Corporation dedicated The Plaza at PPL Center, a new office building for continued growth in the company's non-regulated energy businesses.[17]

The Plaza at PPL Center, PPL's new office building in downtown Allentown, Pennsylvania, boasts a long list of environmental features, including a vegetative roof and innovative energy and water-saving devices.

It has been awarded the Gold rating from the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program for making use of sustainable development principles.

Investments

In a speech before the Edison Electric Institute (EEI) Financial Conference in November 2019, William Spence, PPL’s chairman and chief executive officer, said that the company is focusing on building more advanced cleaner energy technologies and is also increasing its effort on a strategy known as "Energy Forward." The company is investing around $15 billion through 2022 to improve infrastructure and technology in order to "create a smarter, more reliable and resilient energy grid," according to Spence. In the third quarter of 2019, PPL completed a $470 million investment in replacing meters with "advanced" meters in Pennsylvania.[2]

Marketing

In February 2010, the PPL Corporation purchased the naming rights to the venue originally known as PPL Park in Chester, Pennsylvania (which is outside of PPL's service territory), the home stadium of Major League Soccer's Philadelphia Union. As part of the $25 million, 11-year deal, PPL EnergyPlus provides sustainable energy to PPL Park derived from other sources in Pennsylvania.[18] After PPL spun off its generation business into the separate Talen Energy, the stadium naming rights were assumed by the spinoff company, and the venue is now known as Talen Energy Stadium.[19]

PPL also owns the naming rights to the PPL Center in Allentown, which hosts the Lehigh Valley Phantoms of the American Hockey League starting with the 2014 season. PPL paid an undisclosed sum over ten years.[20]

References
  1. "PPL". Fortune. Retrieved 2018-12-18.
  2. "PPL CEO says utilities focused on investing in sustainable energy, delivering fair shareholder returns". Daily Energy Insider. 2019-11-13. Retrieved 2019-11-18.
  3. "NorthWestern Energy closes deal to purchase PPL Montana hydroelectric facilities".
  4. "PPL's Chief Nuclear Officer Retires".
  5. "Fortune 500 2009". 9 May 2014.
  6. "SPPL to acquire E.ON's UK grid networks for GBP3.5bn". Power-Gen Worldwide. PennWell Corporation. 2011-03-02. Archived from the original on 2011-03-05. Retrieved 2011-03-02.
  7. "PPL - Fortune 500 - PPL". Money.cnn.com. Retrieved November 29, 2012.
  8. Poole, Claire (June 10, 2014). "PPL, Riverstone create Talen Energy". The Street. Retrieved March 18, 2015.
  9. Kraus, Scott (June 1, 2015). "Talen Energy launches Monday, sells stock Tuesday". The Morning Call. Retrieved June 1, 2015.
  10. "Hansen signs agreement to acquire PPL Solutions". 2016-07-01.
  11. "BBC News - BUSINESS - Hyder faces fresh battle".
  12. "Western Power - Finances".
  13. "Cardiff: Latest news, sport and events in the Welsh capital from WalesOnline".
  14. "Llanishen RAG News". Archived from the original on 2010-03-08.
  15. "PPL Electric Utilities Earns J.D. Power and Associates Award for Business Customer Satisfaction". PR Newswire. PPL Electric Utilities. 22 February 2008. Retrieved 27 October 2015.
  16. "PPL EnergyPlus® receives J.D. Power award for customer satisfaction". PR Newswire.
  17. "PPL Corporation Dedicates New Office Building for Growing Non-Regulated Energy Businesses".
  18. Jasner, Andy (February 25, 2010). "PPL buys naming rights". Philadelphia Union. Retrieved February 26, 2010.
  19. "Talen Energy Assumes Stadium Naming Rights". Philadelphia Union (Press release). Retrieved December 1, 2015.
  20. "Allentown hockey arena will be PPL Center". Lehigh Valley Live. Allentown. February 2013. Retrieved February 27, 2013.
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