PPL Corporation

PPL Corporation
Public
Traded as NYSE: PPL
S&P 500 Component
Industry Electric utilities
Founded 1920
Headquarters Allentown, Pennsylvania, USA
Key people
 William H. Spence (Chairman, President and CEO)
Revenue IncreaseUS$12.737 Billion (2011)
IncreaseUS$1.495 Billion (2011)
Number of employees
 13,500 (2010)
Website www.pplweb.com

PPL Corporation, formerly known as PP&L or Pennsylvania Power and Light,[1] is an energy company headquartered in Allentown, Pennsylvania, USA. 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. It also provides natural gas delivery service to 321,000 customers in Kentucky.

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 under ticker symbol NYSE: PPL.

History

PPL 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.

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.[2]

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.[3]

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.[4] 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.[5]

In March 2011, PPL acquired from E.ON the British distribution company Central Networks for £3.5 billion.[6]

On June 6, 2014 PPL announced it will be divesting its electrical generation facilities to a newly formed company Talen Energy.[7]

On June 1, 2015 the Talen spinoff was completed allowing PPL to concentrate on the transmission and distribution aspects of the electric utility business.[8]

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.[9][10] Western Power and PPL's plans to redevelop the surface area of the reservoir to include 300 new houses with a smaller 'wildlife area' are highly controversial, and the issue has been taken by various British MPs to the Welsh Assembly and the UK parliament.[11][12]

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.[13]

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.[14]

Headquarters

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

PPL Building

Main article: PPL Building

The PPL Building is the tallest building in Allentown. The building has 23 stories and is 322 feet (98 m) tall. It is the second tallest building in the Lehigh Valley after Bethlehem's Martin Tower. 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.[15]

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.

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.[16] 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.[17]

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.[18]

References

  1. ↑ PPL Corporation Timeline
  2. ↑ http://www.hydroworld.com/articles/2014/11/northwestern-energy-closes-deal-to-purchase-ppl-montana-hydroelectric-facilities.html
  3. ↑ "PPL's Chief Nuclear Officer Retires".
  4. ↑ Fortune 500 2009
  5. ↑ "PPL - Fortune 500 - PPL". Money.cnn.com. Retrieved November 29, 2012.
  6. ↑ "SPPL to acquire E.ON's UK grid networks for GBP3.5bn". Power-Gen Worldwide. PennWell Corporation. 2011-03-02. Retrieved 2011-03-02.
  7. ↑ Poole, Claire (June 10, 2014). "PPL, Riverstone create Talen Energy". The Street. Retrieved March 18, 2015.
  8. ↑ Kraus, Scott (June 1, 2015). "Talen Energy launches Monday, sells stock Tuesday". The Morning Call. Retrieved June 1, 2015.
  9. ↑ BBC News - Hyder faces fresh battle
  10. ↑ Western Power - Finances
  11. ↑ South Wales Echo report.
  12. ↑ Llanishen RAG News
  13. ↑ "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.
  14. ↑ "PPL EnergyPlus® receives J.D. Power award for customer satisfaction". PR Newswire.
  15. ↑ "PPL Corporation Dedicates New Office Building for Growing Non-Regulated Energy Businesses".
  16. ↑ Jasner, Andy (February 25, 2010). "PPL buys naming rights". Philadelphia Union. Retrieved February 26, 2010.
  17. ↑ "Talen Energy Assumes Stadium Naming Rights". Philadelphia Union (Press release). Retrieved December 1, 2015.
  18. ↑ "Allentown hockey arena will be PPL Center". Lehigh Valley Live. Allentown. February 2013. Retrieved February 27, 2013.
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