Pennsylvania · electric utility
PPL Electric Utilities Price to Compare & rate increases
PPL Electric Utilities is a PPL Corporation utility serving central and eastern PA (the Lehigh Valley, Harrisburg, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, and Lancaster) (about 1.4 million customers). PPL Electric serves 29 counties across central and eastern Pennsylvania over roughly 51,000 miles of power lines. (source)
Price to Compare (current rate)
13.079¢/kWh
Effective (current) · last reviewed
Estimate for comparison — confirm the current rate and all charges with PPL Electric Utilities before acting. Not advice.
Next scheduled reset: · Twice a year (Jun 1 and Dec 1). Every utility's reset calendar →
Of the 7 Pennsylvania utilities we track, PPL Electric Utilities's Price to Compare is the 3rd-lowest — the range runs from 11.759¢ (PECO Energy) to 14.14¢ (Duquesne Light). Compare all Pennsylvania rates →
What it means: a PPL Electric Utilities customer on a 17¢/kWh third-party supplier rate pays about $400 more per year than the Price to Compare (13.079¢), based on ~860 kWh/month. The audit below checks your actual rate.
The worth-it line: for a switch to save at least $10/month at ~750 kWh, a supplier offer must be a fixed rate below 11.75¢/kWh — with no monthly fee and no cancellation fee. Offers between 11.75¢ and 13.079¢ technically "beat" the Price to Compare but save too little to justify contract risk. The full math, all utilities →
PPL Electric Utilities customer service & quick facts
The official ways to reach PPL Electric Utilities for outages, billing, and account help. RateWatchdog is independent and not affiliated with PPL Electric Utilities — these are the utility's own channels.
- Pay your bill
- Pay PPL Electric Utilities bill online →
Verified · confirm on PPL Electric Utilities's siteHere to check if your rate is too high? Jump to the audit ↓
Is your supplier charging more?
Runs entirely in your browser. We never see your numbers.
Where is this on my bill?
On your bill, find the supply rate in ¢/kWh. Your utility's standard rate is the “Price to Compare.” If your supplier charges more than that, you're overpaying.
Comparing suppliers against PPL Electric Utilities's Price to Compare?
Pennsylvania's official comparison tool is PA Power Switch, run by the PA PUC. Pennsylvania's official comparison tool shows every licensed supplier's offer next to your utility's Price to Compare — our guide covers all 7 PA utility PTCs and the fine print to check.
How to use PA Power Switch — the full guide →Is PPL Electric Utilities a monopoly? Can you switch?
For delivery, yes — it's a monopoly. PPL Electric Utilities is the only company that runs the poles and wires to homes in its territory, so you can't pick a different company to deliver your power. That part is a regulated monopoly: PPL Electric Utilities, owned by PPL Corporation, can only charge what the PA PUC approves in a rate case.
The electricity itself, though, is open to competition. You can buy your supply from a third-party supplier, or do nothing and stay on PPL Electric Utilities's default rate — the Price to Compare the PA PUC oversees. Switching suppliers doesn't change who delivers your power or who you call during an outage; it only changes the supply line on your bill. And if a supplier is charging more than the Price to Compare, you can drop it and return to that regulated rate, usually within one or two billing cycles — no fee to the utility.
How often does PPL Electric Utilities's power go out?
Federal reliability data, reported by the utility to the U.S. government. SAIDI is the average total time a customer is without power in a year; SAIFI is the average number of outages.
In 2024, including major storms
7 hr 35 min
without power, across about 1.2 outages
What the average customer actually experienced.
On a typical day (storms excluded)
1 hr 30 min
without power, across about 0.7 outages
Normal operations, with major event days removed.
For PPL Electric Utilities, major storms drove roughly 80% of 2024's total outage time — the gap between the two numbers above is weather the utility couldn't fully control.
On normal-day reliability, PPL Electric Utilities is the 2nd-most reliable of the 4 Pennsylvania utilities we track — the range runs from 1 hr (PECO Energy) to 3 hr 41 min (Met-Ed (FirstEnergy)) of typical-day outage time per year.
Source: U.S. EIA Form EIA-861, 2024 reliability data (IEEE 1366 standard), for PPL Electric Utilities Corp. eia.gov →
How often does PPL Electric Utilities disconnect customers for nonpayment?
Utilities report this to the federal government. It counts residential service disconnected for unpaid bills. A high rate isn't proof of wrongdoing — it's shaped by local poverty, climate, and how strong a state's shutoff-protection rules are, as much as by the utility itself.
Disconnections in 2024
62,802
times PPL Electric Utilities disconnected residential customers for nonpayment
Per 100 households
4.9
disconnections for every 100 residential customers it serves
That's the 2nd-lowest disconnection rate of the 3 Pennsylvania utilities we track — the range runs from 4.9 per 100 (Duquesne Light) to 5 per 100 (Met-Ed (FirstEnergy)).
Counts disconnection events — one household can be shut off more than once. From PPL Electric Utilities's own filings to the U.S. EIA (Form EIA-112, Residential Utility Disconnections Survey), first collected for 2024. eia.gov →
Where your bill money goes: how PPL Electric Utilities earns its profit
Because PPL Electric Utilities is a regulated monopoly, its profit isn't set by competing for customers — it's set by regulators. The PA PUC authorizes a target return on equity (around 9.5% to 10.5% for U.S. electric utilities) on the money it sinks into poles, wires, substations, and meters. It's a target, not a guarantee — a utility can earn above or below it — but a low-risk regulated monopoly reliably lands close. You pay that return back, plus the investment itself, through the delivery charge on every bill.
PPL Electric Utilities is owned by PPL Corporation. In 2024, PPL Corporation reported about $886 million in net income — its profit across all of the utilities it owns, not PPL Electric Utilities alone. Source: PPL Corporation's annual report (SEC Form 10-K, fiscal year 2024). SEC EDGAR →
That authorized return is set by regulators on the utility's investment — independently of how reliable the service is or how many customers are disconnected, the two measures above.
Rate cases & increases
- R-2025-3057164 ordered
PPL Electric Utilities' base rate case — the largest of Pennsylvania's recent filings. Filed Sept. 30, 2025 seeking a $356.3 million annual increase; the PUC's June 4, 2026 decision reduced it to about $275 million (a typical residential bill rises ~$7.48 to about $184.49, ~4.9%), with new rates effective July 1, 2026.
Common questions about PPL Electric Utilities
- What is PPL Electric's current rate per kWh?
- PPL Electric's Price to Compare (PTC) — the default supply rate for customers who haven't chosen a competitive supplier — is 13.079¢/kWh for July 1 – November 30, 2026, per PPL's posted rate and the PA PUC's papowerswitch.com. This is supply only; delivery and distribution charges are separate. Among PA's seven utilities, PPL sits behind Duquesne Light (14.14¢) and Met-Ed (13.954¢). Verify current figures at papowerswitch.com.
- Why is my PPL electric bill so high?
- PPL's Price to Compare of 13.079¢/kWh (July–November 2026) is among the higher of Pennsylvania's major utilities — driven by wholesale supply market costs that feed through the PA PUC's annual PTC-setting process. A separate distribution rate case (R-2025-3057164) at the PA PUC is seeking approximately $356M in additional delivery-side revenue, which would affect the delivery line on your bill if approved. PPL does not earn profit on the supply component.
- How do I lower my PPL electric bill?
- Three paths: (1) Check PA Power Switch at papowerswitch.com for fixed-rate competitive supplier offers below PPL's current PTC of 13.079¢/kWh — PPL's higher-than-average PTC means more offers may beat it. (2) Apply for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) or PPL's OnTrack customer assistance program if you're income-qualified. (3) Get a free home energy audit through Pennsylvania's WRAP (Weatherization, Repair, and Assistance Program) — insulation and air-sealing upgrades reduce usage permanently.
Why the 'PPL 16% rate increase' headline was wrong — and what actually changed
If you searched for PPL rates in early 2026, you probably saw alarming headlines about a 16% increase. That figure went viral — and it was wrong. The Pennsylvania PUC's verified summer 2026 Price to Compare for PPL is 13.147¢/kWh, up from 12.953¢ — a ~1.5% supply increase, not 16%.
The 16% figure appears to have originated from an earlier or different rate filing that was conflated with the supply component. Pennsylvania's Price to Compare is a pass-through supply cost — what PPL pays for electricity on wholesale markets; PPL earns no profit on it. The real story is that PPL carries one of the higher Prices to Compare among Pennsylvania's utilities (verified July 2026: PECO 11.759¢, West Penn 12.076¢, PPL 13.079¢ since July 1, Met-Ed 13.954¢, Duquesne 14.14¢), which matters for anyone shopping — your benchmark is PPL's current PTC, not a viral headline.
Can PPL customers switch to a competitive electricity supplier?
Pennsylvania has been deregulated since 1999. PPL customers can choose any PA-licensed competitive electric generation supplier (EGS) for the supply portion of their bill. The benchmark is PPL's current Price to Compare — 13.079¢/kWh for July 1 through November 30, 2026. Pennsylvania's official comparison tool is PA Power Switch at papowerswitch.com, run by the PA PUC.
A fixed-rate EGS offer below 13.079¢ with no monthly fee and a reasonable cancellation policy beats the default. The PPL service territory's relatively high Price to Compare (versus PECO and others) means more competitive offers may be available here than in other PA utility zones. Always verify the offer on papowerswitch.com before switching — door-to-door offers aren't always accurate.
PPL Electric Utilities service territory
PPL Electric Utilities covers central and eastern Pennsylvania — a wide swath from the Poconos and Lehigh Valley through the Susquehanna Valley down to York and Lancaster counties.
- ▸ Core areas: Allentown/Bethlehem (Lehigh Valley), Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Harrisburg, York, and Lancaster
- ▸ Stretches from the New York border south to the Maryland line in south-central PA
- ▸ 1.4 million electric customers in 29 counties
- ▸ One of Pennsylvania's four large investor-owned utilities; filed a major distribution rate case (R-2025-3057164) pending at the PA PUC
What does a PPL Electric Utilities bill look like?
ESTIMATE — see note below.
| Bill component | At 750 kWh/month |
|---|---|
| Supply / generation (13.079¢/kWh) | $98.09 |
| Delivery, transmission & other riders | see note → |
⚠ Supply charge only — PPL Price to Compare 13.079¢/kWh (July 1 – November 30, 2026; source: PPL / PA PUC papowerswitch.com). Delivery and distribution charges (~3–5¢/kWh for PPL) are additional. Verify current PTC at papowerswitch.com.
PPL Electric Utilities rate alerts
Email alerts for PPL Electric Utilities are coming soon — we're setting them up with double opt-in and one-click unsubscribe, and we'll never sell your data. For now, this page and the Pennsylvania hub track every active rate case.