Knowledge is power at PPL's Web site

 

Jun 24 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Sam Kennedy The Morning Call, Allentown, Pa.

PPL Corp. customers have a new tool for saving energy and money. The Allentown company calls it the "energy analyzer."

It's part of the PPLelectric.com Web site -- to be officially unveiled in a publicity campaign this week -- that allows customers to compare their monthly bills to those of other people with similar homes and to analyze their energy consumption according to home appliance usage.

The feedback can help PPL customers identify ways to save energy, something that's good for their pocketbooks as well as the environment, PPL spokesman Ryan Hill said. It's good for PPL too, because electricity that its customers don't use the Allentown company can sell on the open market for a higher price.

PPL's new Web site is also part of the company's plan to charge customers different rates at different times of the day. The idea behind time-of-use billing is to give people an incentive to use less electricity at those times when demand is highest and, thus, supply is stretched thin.

In November, PPL became the first major electric company in the country to track the hourly usage of all of its customers -- 1.4 million across the state.

The feat was made possible by the installation of automated meters, which replaced human meter readers.

Perhaps as early as next year, PPL customers will be able to use PPLelectric.com to assess their energy consumption on an hourly basis, Hill said. The introduction of optional on-peak and off-peak rates is due to follow in 2010.