PPL Electric Utilities wants to add competition and simplicity to Electric Choice in hopes of adding participation. In a plan announced Wednesday, PPL proposes to change its price twice a year, not quarterly as it does now. PPL also would roll out two initiatives intended to spur ......

The last year has been pretty sweet for PPL Electric Utilities customers. PPL has cut its rates five times because it's been able to obtain power at ever-cheaper prices and pass those better deals onto its customers. But while the cost of obtaining power accounts for about two-thi......

PPL Electric Utilities on Wednesday unveiled a new program that sends free alerts to customers via phone, text message and/or email. Customers can use the alerts to be notified about power outages at their home or business, their bill, their monthly usage and PPL's rates. To sign ......

PPL Electric Utilities said Tuesday it will cut its residential rates by 10.7 percent, effective March 1. It will be the fifth consecutive reduction for PPL since its rates jumped nearly 30 percent in January 2010. The series of cuts will have nearly erased that record increase of......

Plugging into PPL Electric Utilities will cost even less starting Dec. 1. The company announced Tuesday that it will cut its residential rate by 7.6 percent, the fourth consecutive reduction. PPL explained that it's able to decrease rates because it's paying less to obtain power o......

As consumers sift through the dozens of rates available under the state's Electric Choice program, one new price seems unbeatable: Free. Direct Energy has unveiled a Free Power Saturday Plan with no charge for electricity used on Saturdays over the next 12 months. The comp......

For the third straight time, PPL Electric Utilities is cutting its price for residential power. PPL said Tuesday that its price will slide to 8.41 cents per kilowatt hour from the current 8.77 cents per kwh. The new price, a drop of 4.1 percent, is effective Sept. 1. It's ......

Residential customers of PPL Electric Utilities will have a smaller incentive to switch to another supplier starting June 1. PPL announced Friday that its price for residential power will drop to 8.77 cents per kilowatt hour from the current 9.27 cents. The 5.4 percent drop reflec......

For more than a year, residential customers of PPL Electric Utilities have been able to pick a different firm to supply their electricity. The field of alternatives competing under the state's "Electric Choice" program has grown to 28 firms, most of them new to local residents. Th......

  It took more than a decade for the state-created Electric Choice program to take full effect in PPL Electric Utilities territory. But once Electric Choice kicked in here last year, both consumers and suppliers responded in droves. Twenty-one residential suppliers have com......

Looking for the cheapest alternative to PPL Electric Utilities? Try PPL Electric Utilities. Its new time-of-use option is priced as much as 34 percent below its fixed rate. And it's far below the fixed rates of its 21 competitors angling for residential customers under the state......

The year 2010, like every year, had its share of surprises. But several of the year's Top 10 local business stories had a familiar look — the look of the recession. Although the recession was declared over, it was hard to spot many signs of recovery, no matter how hard you s......

PPL users are likely to see little or no change in their energy bills in 2011. The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission on Thursday approved PPL's new rate plan that includes an increase in distribution charges but decreases in transmission and generation charges, which are costs PPL pa......

As 2011 gets closer, PPL Electric Utilities is able to see next year's rates more clearly. And they still look pretty good. PPL said Friday its generation charge is expected to drop about 10 percent, its most precise prediction to date for 2011. The generation charge refle......

Si la gente piensa que los ahorros son suficientemente grandes, ellos cambian. Si no, no lo hacen.Un estudio por PPL Electric Utilities encontró que - sorpresa, sorpresa- el dinero motivó a muchas personas a decidirse por 'Electric Choice'.De los clientes ......

If people think the savings are big enough, they switch.If not, they don't.A survey by PPL Electric Utilities found that — surprise, surprise — money motivated many people's "Electric Choice" decisions.Of the customers who have left PPL, 58 perce......

The torrent of customers leaving PPL Electric Utilities has slowed to a trickle.But each week, there still are thousands switching to a cheaper supplier of electricity.And that small, steady flow has gradually raised the total number of defections to a large number: 30 percent....

Money sure is a motivator.Some 27 percent of PPL Electric Utilities customers have switched to other suppliers to lower their bills, the company said Tuesday.That's easily the best response in the state so far to Pennsylvania's "Electric Choice" program, which lets......

Here's a shock — bills for most PPL Electric Utilities customers might come down a bit next year.The company made the forecast Monday, pegged to the assumption that wholesale prices will hold at current levels.How much of a dip? Time will tell."We haven't p......

Consumers stuck with soaring electric bills might have been appalled by a little item in the newspaper the other day.It said PPL is negotiating a mega-million-dollar marketing deal with a new professional soccer team, the Philadelphia Union.But there's no cause for outrage....

It was a good idea, back in the day.Eight years ago, PPL Electric Utilities began testing "time-of-use" pricing, offering it to a few Allentown area customers over the summer.In 2009, PPL widened the pilot effort to its entire 29-county area year-round, intending to roll o......

Dominion Energy Solutions is going back to the future.The company said Tuesday that it has reinstituted its original offer to residential PPL customers — 10 percent off PPL's price to supply electricity.And for customers who signed up with Dominion during the six days when......

In a deregulated industry, competitors can change their prices any time they want.And they do — sometimes right after a reporter finishes writing his story about them.Which is what happened this week.Wednesday afternoon, a Dominion Energy Solutions spokesman said it wou......

When Ryan Hill went to the doctor's office this week, the nurse was ready with more than his regular allergy shot.The nurse, knowing he works for PPL, pulled out her electric bill and asked which supplier she should pick.It's a question that Hill and other PPL employees get ......

The number of competitors challenging PPL Electric Utilities is rising.And so is the number of PPL customers who've switched to one of them to save money.PPL says 8 percent of its customers so far have picked a new electricity supplier for 2010.By choosing a competitor, c......

The biggest rate hike in PPL Electric Utilities history is three weeks away.When the year ends, so will the cap on PPL's price, causing rates to leap a record 29.7 percent overnight.But the expiring cap will have a second consequence that gives you a way to avoid having your bil......