Jul 11, 2017 | Energy Efficiency
It’s a simple equation: The less you spend on energy during the heat of summer, the more you have to spend on lemonade, pool passes, ice cream, and road trips to the beach.
So how do you make that happen?
We’re glad to share the following tips for a cool but cost-effective summer. (Many of these will work for businesses too.)
If you have air conditioning, don’t set it lower than normal when you first turn it on. That won’t cool your home or business any 
faster, and it could cost you more.
Make sure nothing is blocking your ventilation ducts, so you get all the cool air you’re paying for. And use a programmable thermostat that’s set to cool things down when people are at your home or business – not when they aren’t.
Make sure ceiling fans are set to turn counterclockwise (as you are looking up at them), which will push a cool flow of air downward. Also, make sure to turn off fans – ceiling or floor – when you leave a room, because fans cool people, not rooms.
In the kitchen, use your microwave to cook. Make cool seasonal dishes like salads that require little or no cooking. Or, get out of the house entirely and fire up the grill. All these options will save energy and keep your kitchen cool, compared to using the oven.
Plug devices like printers, DVD players and computers into smart power strips. These devices continue to use electricity even when they’re not actively operating. A smart power strip shuts down the power at those times, saving you money.
Switch to long-lasting, efficient LED bulbs that use 90 percent less energy than standard incandescent light bulbs. (PPL offers discounts on LED bulbs at participating retailers – no coupon is needed. Visit pplelectric.com/savings for a list of retailers.)
Also, don’t forget you can shop for your energy supply, and may be able to get a lower rate than PPL’s price to compare. (That’s the rate we charge to supply energy to customers who don’t buy it from a competitive supplier.) Visit pplelectric.com/shopping for useful tips to get you started.
Those tips all cost relatively little to put in place. There are also bigger steps you can take toward efficiency that carry a cost in the short term, but should make it up over the long term.
If it’s been a while since your HVAC system was tuned up, schedule a professional maintenance visit. That will make sure your system is running as efficiently as possible.
Got a pool with an older pool pump? Today’s models can be significantly more efficient. Consider investing in a replacement, so you can save money while staying cool.
PPL Electric Utilities has many energy efficiency programs to reward customers for buying more efficient equipment through rebates on ENERGY STAR® central AC units, lighting, central heat pumps, ductless heat pumps, pool pumps, smart thermostats, refrigerators, and other equipment. Visit www.pplelectric.com/savings for more info on available rebates.
PPL also offers a variety of business-focused rebates on lighting, HVAC and other systems; check out www.pplelectric.com/businessrebates for more.
Whether your efficiency steps are large, small, or in between, we wish you a cool, enjoyable, energy-smart summer.
Jun 16, 2017 | Safety and Security
A friend of ours had an embarrassing experience with would-be scammers not long ago.
Her parents, who were visiting her home, answered a phone call in which a scammer claiming to be PPL threatened to cut off her power immediately if she didn’t pay. Her parents became concerned and called her at work, asking why she hadn’t told them she was in financial trouble.
She wasn’t. In fact, she’d paid her bill online, and her account was in good standing. But the phone call caused her — and her parents — more than a little worry.
At PPL Electric Utilities, we’re trying to stop scammers who steal our name. We don’t want them to steal from you.
Door-to-door solicitors claim to represent us. (They don’t.) High-pressure phone callers say PPL will cut off power in an hour if you don’t pay. (We won’t.) We’ve seen reports of phishing emails that pretend to come from PPL, as well.
We’d like all these people to keep our name out of their mouths, and our security team works with police to pursue them. But, until they’re caught, the best thing we can do is share information on how to spot scammers. This advice can help you spot swindlers who might pretend to come from other companies you trust, too.
So share these signs of scams with anyone you know who can use them. We don’t want anyone to be taken advantage of.
Door-to-door energy marketing
In Pennsylvania, you have the right to buy your energy supply from a competitive supplier, rather than have PPL Electric Utilities supply it. You may be able to save money by paying a lower rate than the one we charge. (No matter who you buy your energy from, it will be delivered safely and reliably over our network.)
You should know, though, that we don’t endorse any one supplier over another. And those door-to-door solicitors who promote energy suppliers do not represent PPL. In fact, they’re required to specifically tell you that they’re not working for us.
Our advice? Don’t be afraid to buy your energy supply from another company – but the best place to start is our shopping website, pplelectric.com/shopping. You can also go to the state Public Utility Commission’s site at PAPowerSwitch.com to compare our current price, called the “price to compare,” to those of other suppliers.
If you want to listen to door-to-door salesmen and see what they have to offer, you can. But we recommend that you not sign anything before checking PAPowerSwitch.com, where you may find a better offer. And don’t provide your PPL account number to anyone.
Phone scams
Phone callers who impersonate PPL give themselves away by doing two things we don’t.
They claim they’ll cut off power immediately if they don’t get paid. And, they pressure you to pay them by buying prepaid cards. (In real life, we’ll give plenty of notice when there’s a possible risk of shutoff, and we don’t pressure anyone to use specific payment methods.)
You can always check your account status by logging on at pplelectric.com or calling us at 1-800-DIAL-PPL. If you get a suspicious or threatening call that claims to come from another company – like a utility or a bank – do the same thing: Hang up and contact the company directly using a trusted method, like the phone number on your monthly statement, or a website you know belongs to that company.
“Phishing” emails
A “phishing” email is a message that tries to get you to share personal information, such as account numbers. Some phishing messages can look a lot like the emails sent by real companies you know and trust.
Here are ways to keep yourself off the hook: First, hover your mouse over any link in the message. Read the URL that pops up, and see where the link really goes. Does it go to a site you trust, like pplelectric.com? Or does it go someplace you’ve never seen before?
Also, if the message says there’s an urgent problem with your account, don’t click. Instead, contact the company directly through a trustworthy channel to check your account status. They’ll let you know if you really have anything to worry about.
Jun 12, 2017 | Safety and Security
As morning TV watchers might have noticed, we hosted — and hoisted — a special visitor at our Lancaster Service Center early in the morning of Monday, June 12.
Drew Anderson, weatherman at WMPT Fox 43 in York, met with Regional Operations Director Dana Ferber for a series of live shots during the station’s morning program — including one from a bucket truck. We were pleased to have the chance to talk with Drew about safety, reliability and other topics.
For those who couldn’t tune in on the day, here are a few snapshots:
Drew (who wears a hard hat well) used cups of coffee and cold water for a demonstration of infrared cameras. We use infrared cameras for line and equipment inspections — “hot spots” may be a sign of problems that we can fix before they turn into outages.
We use drones for some line inspections as well, as Drew and Dana discussed here.
More from the hot-vs.-cold infrared demonstration.
On one of the hottest mornings of the year so far, Drew put on some of the safety gear worn by our line workers for a taste of what it’s like to work in the field.
Dana explains the importance of safety in all we do.
Getting a firsthand look of the line worker’s life, Drew, Dana and a cameraman go up in bucket trucks for a live broadcast.
More from the live broadcast — going on the air, from up in the air.
Apr 18, 2017 | Safety and Security
Our good friends at Pennsylvania 811 do a great contest every year that benefits fire companies while promoting public safety.
And it’s pretty simple.
Fire companies are asked to post an 811 message on the marquee outside their fire hall, take a photograph of it and send it to contact@pa1call.org.
Pennsylvania 811 will promote all of the entries on its Facebook page and on Twitter.
And those fire companies that send along photographs are entered in four different drawings for a $500 prize. Those drawings take place on July 1, Aug. 1, Sept. 2 and Nov. 23. So each fire company has four chances to win $500, while displaying a very important message.
Click here for details. If you’re a firefighter, or you know one, please share the information. You may be a winner!
April is a perfect month to get that message out for everyone to see, since it is National Safe Digging Month.
PPL Electric Utilities is proud to be among the utilities that sponsor the contest because we know calling 811 can save lives. Pennsylvania 811, the state’s 811 call center, says that underground utility lines are damaged every six minutes because someone digs without first dialing 811.
State law requires that an 811 call be made before digging with power equipment. When dialing 811, callers are connected to Pennsylvania 811, which notifies the appropriate utilities of an impending dig. Professional locators are then sent out to mark the site to show the location of underground utilities such as power lines.
Mar 30, 2017 | Safety and Security
Note: This post was updated April 7 with additional information.
We’ve learned about possible problems with nightlights that were distributed in energy efficiency kits and shared in schools.
We are aware that some of these nightlights may get hot or smoke when plugged in. As a result of the potential risk of fire or shock from these nightlights, we are taking immediate steps to notify people who received them to unplug and not use the nightlights.
We are only aware of issues with nightlights that were distributed since June 2016 that are similar in design to the one pictured. We are not aware of any concerns with nightlights distributed prior to that time.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission has also been notified about this matter.
If you or your child received a nightlight since June 2016, unplug and stop using the nightlight immediately. Customers who received these nightlights will soon be receiving instructions as to what to do with them. Under no circumstances should you use them or provide them to others.
Your safety is important to us.
To see a list of schools that received the lights, click here: ppl-eemis-2017-03-21-01-03_school-addresses-1.xlsx
Anyone who received a nightlight from PPL can call Ecova, the energy-efficiency contractor that distributed the lights for PPL, at 1-877-486-9204 with any questions.
