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Employees at PPL Corporation's electric distribution subsidiary in El Salvador -- DelSur -- have been working throughout the weekend, not only restoring power to customers, but also digging families out of the rubble left by the 7.6-magnitude earthquake that shook the country on Saturday.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/19981015/PHTH025 )

The earthquake and resulting aftershocks impacted areas served primarily by DelSur, which distributes energy to 216,000 customers in central and southern El Salvador. Headquartered in San Salvador, DelSur is owned by PPL Global, LLC, PPL's subsidiary responsible for international operations and domestic development.

DelSur reported no injuries among its 285 employees during the earthquake or the following 500 aftershocks, which have left more than 400 people dead and 1,000 missing.

"The DelSur network is in good shape," said Ivan Diaz-Molina, chairman of DelSur. "Energy supply had been restored to 90 percent of the rural areas affected by the earthquake and 100 percent of the urban areas as of last night. Power to our commercial and industrial customers has been restored, and isolated residential areas still without power are expected to be back in service later today."

DelSur operations received minor damage from the earthquake. All substations remained online with most problems stemming from downed transmission lines in the Santa Tecla area, Diaz-Molina said.

Santa Tecla, located west of San Salvador, is in the heart of DelSur's service territory and suffered the most damage from the earthquake after a landslide buried hundreds of homes and their residents. Aftershocks have lead to evacuations in certain areas.

"We are coordinating with the [El Salvadoran] Army in rescue operations and evacuation efforts," Diaz-Molina said. PPL is sending a team of employees from its Santiago, Chile operations to assist DelSur employees in rescue efforts. The company is also providing emergency lighting equipment so the rescue activities can continue 24 hours a day.

PPL also will be coordinating a humanitarian campaign with its 12,000 employees worldwide to help families in El Salvador.

PPL Global actively manages a growing Latin American energy business in Chile, El Salvador, Brazil and Bolivia, as well as owns energy distribution operations in the United Kingdom.

PPL Corp., (NYSE: PPL) headquartered in Allentown, Pa., generates electricity at power plants in Pennsylvania, Maine and Montana; markets wholesale or retail energy in 42 U.S. states and Canada; and delivers energy to nearly 6 million customers in Pennsylvania, in the United Kingdom and in Latin America.

NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/19981015/PHTH025

PRN Photo Desk, 888-776-6555 or 201-369-3467

SOURCE: PPL Corporation

Contact: Constance Walker, 610-774-5997, or Paul Champagne,
703-293-2603, both of PPL Global