PPL Corporation

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 Kentucky and delivers electricity to more than 10 million customers in Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and the United Kingdom. PPL is the parent to seven regulated utility companies in the U.S. and U.K.,[2] and it also provides natural gas delivery service to 329,000 customers in Kentucky. PPL Electric Utilities (formerly known as PP&L and Pennsylvania Power and Light) is PPL Corporation's primary subsidiary.

PPL Corporation
TypePublic
IndustryElectric utilities
FoundedJune 4, 1920 (June 4, 1920)
Headquarters
Allentown, Pennsylvania
,
U.S.
Key people
Vincent Sorgi, President and Chief Executive Officer
RevenueUS$7.8 billion (Q4 2019)
US$1.746 billion (Q4 2019)
Number of employees
more than 12,000[1] (2019)
Websitepplweb.com

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 2010, PPL completed the acquisition of two regulated utilities in Kentucky — Louisville Gas and Electric and Kentucky Utilities.

In 2011, PPL completed the acquisition of two regulated regional electricity distribution companies in the United Kingdom. Together, with two previously acquired regional electricity distribution companies, they operate under the name Western Power Distribution.

On June 6, 2014, PPL announced it will be divesting its electrical generation facilities to a newly formed company, Talen Energy.[4] On June 1, 2015, the Talen spinoff was completed, allowing PPL to concentrate on the transmission and distribution aspects of the electric utility business.[5]

Subsidiaries

Customer satisfaction

PPL's companies regularly rank high in customer satisfaction studies. PPL Electric Utilities, which serves 1.4 million customers in 29 counties in Pennsylvania, has received 27 J.D. Power and Associates awards for customer satisfaction.

Louisville Gas and Electric and Kentucky Utilities, which serve 1.3 million customers in almost 100 counties across Kentucky and Virginia, have won 24 J.D. Power awards for customer satisfaction.

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.

Investments

In a speech before the Edison Electric Institute Financial Conference in November 2019, William Spence, PPL's former 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, 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.[6] After PPL spun off its non-regulated generation business into the separate Talen Energy, the stadium naming rights were assumed by the spinoff company and the venue became known as Talen Energy Stadium.[7] In February 2020, the park was named Subaru Park.[8]

PPL 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.[9]

References
  1. "PPL". Fortune. Retrieved 2020-07-30.
  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. Poole, Claire (June 10, 2014). "PPL, Riverstone create Talen Energy". The Street. Retrieved March 18, 2015.
  5. Kraus, Scott (June 1, 2015). "Talen Energy launches Monday, sells stock Tuesday". The Morning Call. Retrieved June 1, 2015.
  6. Jasner, Andy (February 25, 2010). "PPL buys naming rights". Philadelphia Union. Retrieved February 26, 2010.
  7. "Talen Energy Assumes Stadium Naming Rights". Philadelphia Union (Press release). Retrieved December 1, 2015.
  8. "Philadelphia Union and Subaru of America Announce Stadium Naming Rights Partnership" (Press release). Philadelphia Union. February 18, 2020. Retrieved July 31, 2020.
  9. "Allentown hockey arena will be PPL Center". Lehigh Valley Live. Allentown. February 2013. Retrieved February 27, 2013.
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