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To help customers better understand how they use energy and how they can save, PPL Electric Utilities is now the state’s first major electric utility to give all customers access to hourly usage information on the Web. 

“The key to wise energy use is having good information,” said David G. DeCampli, president of PPL Electric Utilities. “Now customers can see like never before how activities in their home affect usage.

“They can experiment with changes, like adjusting their thermostat, to see the difference it makes. And they can use our Energy Analyzer on the Web to evaluate their home’s energy performance and find tips to save,” he said.

The hourly usage information is available to all business and residential customers on the Energy Analyzer at www.pplelectric.com. In addition, the company has added a new feature that allows most residential customers to track their electricity charges between bills. Customers can see what their charges are to date during any point in their billing cycle and better anticipate what their next bill will be. While not yet available for residential customers on time-of-use rates, the feature is expected to be in service for those customers by early next year.

“One of the things we hear most from customers who use our Web site is that they want this kind of information,” DeCampli said.

He said the company has provided customers access to daily electric usage information on the Web since November 2007. The latest improvements mean customers now can graph hourly usage by the week or day. The detailed information is possible because of investments the company has made in advanced meters.

In addition to helping customers understand how their homes use electricity, hourly information will be helpful to PPL Electric Utilities customers when the company offers a time-of-use rate option to all customers in 2010. Under time-of-use rates, the amount customers pay for generation charges varies by season and by time of day. Customers who choose a time-of-use rate option can save money by shifting electricity use to times when it is less costly to generate.

The company’s ability to track hourly usage information also supports electric competition because it enables competitive suppliers to offer PPL Electric Utilities customers a variety of pricing options in the future. This could lead to more options for customers to pick plans that match their lifestyles, DeCampli said.

To get started on the company’s Energy Analyzer, customers should visit www.pplelectric.com and click on the “e.” First-time users will need to create a user name and password. To view hourly usage, customers should click “View graphs of my daily or hourly energy usage” on the bottom right side of the Energy Analyzer page. They can then click the drop-down box for hourly energy use.

The company’s new bill-to-date feature is in the “Meter Highlights” section on the main Energy Analyzer page.

To date, more than 240,000 customers have accessed the company’s Energy Analyzer. More than 90,000 have created a home profile to better understand how their home uses electricity and find ways to save.

PPL Electric Utilities Corporation, a subsidiary of PPL Corporation that provides electricity delivery services to about 1.4 million customers in Pennsylvania, has consistently ranked among the best companies for customer service in the United States. More information is available at www.pplelectric.com.