nyse ppl s & p 500 component industry electric utilities founded 1920 headquarters allentown pennsylvania usa key people william h. spence chairman president and ceo revenue us 12.737 billion 2011 net income us 1.495 billion 2011 number of employees 13 500 2010 slogan we ll be there when the light goes on website www.pplweb.com ppl corporation formerly known as pp & l or pennsylvania power and light 1 is an energy company headquartered in allentown pennsylvania usa . it currently controls about 8 000 megawatts of regulated electric generating capacity in the united states and delivers electricity to 10.5 million customers in pennsylvania kentucky and great britain . it also provides natural gas delivery service to 321 000 customers in kentucky . the majority of ppl s power plants burn coal oil or natural gas . ppl also owns peaking plants which require few operators and have a high profit margin due to their ability to rapidly come online when the price of electricity spikes . the company is publicly traded on the new york stock exchange under ticker symbol nyse ppl . contents 1 history 2 subsidiaries 3 controversy in foreign subsidiary 4 customer satisfaction 5 headquarters 5.1 ppl building 5.2 the plaza at ppl center 6 marketing 7 references 8 external links history edit ppl was founded in 1920 out of a merger of eight smaller pennsylvania utilities . it gradually extended its service territory to a crescent shaped region of central and northeastern pennsylvania stretching from lancaster through the lehigh valley into scranton and wilkes barre . the company limited its activities to pennsylvania until deregulation of electrical utilities in the 1990s encouraged ppl to purchase assets in other states . the largest of these transactions was ppl s 1998 purchase of 13 plants from montana power leaving northwestern energy the buyer of the former montana power transmission and distribution systems vulnerable to high spot prices on the energy market . this added over 2 500 mw of capacity and was the largest expansion in ppl s history . in 2014 those hydroelectric facilities were sold to northwestern . 2 in may 2002 ppl announced that robert g. byram ppl s chief nuclear officer since 1997 was retiring from the company . bryce l. shriver who had served as vice president nuclear site operations at ppl s susquehanna plant since 2000 became senior vice president and chief nuclear officer . 3 ppl s 2008 revenue was 8.2 billion with a net profit of 930 million making it number 314 on the 2009 fortune 500 list . 4 after acquiring central networks and lg & e ppl s 2011 profit rose to 1.495 billion on 12.7 billion in revenue ranking it number 212 on fortune s 2012 list . 5 in march 2011 ppl acquired from e.on the british distribution company central networks for 3.5 billion . 6 on june 6 2014 ppl announced it will be divesting its electrical generation facilities to a newly formed company talen energy . 7 on june 1 2015 the talen spinoff was completed allowing ppl to concentrate on the transmission and distribution aspects of the electric utility business . 8 subsidiaries edit ppl electric utilities formerly pennsylvania power & light lg & e and ku energy louisville gas and electric kentucky utilities ppl global western power distribution including former central networks controversy in foreign subsidiary edit after the takeover in 2000 of wales largest company hyder to form half of western power distribution a uk based energy distribution company and subsidiary of ppl a local beauty spot and part site of special scientific interest in the welsh capital city of cardiff called llanishen reservoir was acquired as an asset . 9 10 western power and ppl s plans to redevelop the surface area of the reservoir to include 300 new houses with a smaller wildlife area are highly controversial and the issue has been taken by various british mps to the welsh assembly and the uk parliament . 11 12 customer satisfaction edit ppl electric utilities which serves 1.4 million customers in 29 counties of pennsylvania in the united states has received 15 j.d. power and associates awards for customer satisfaction more than any other utility in the united states . 13 in june 2013 j.d. power announced that ppl energyplus ranked highest in the state for residential customer satisfaction in j.d. power s first study of competitive electricity suppliers in pennsylvania . 14 headquarters edit the ppl building is the tallest building in allentown pennsylvania . ppl building edit main article ppl building the ppl building is the tallest building in allentown . the building has 23 stories and is 322 feet 98 m tall . it is the second tallest building in the lehigh valley after bethlehem s martin tower . it is located at the intersection of hamilton and ninth streets in the downtown area of the city . the plaza at ppl center edit in june 2003 ppl corporation dedicated the plaza at ppl center a new office building for continued growth in the company s non regulated energy businesses . 15 the plaza at ppl center ppl s new office building in downtown allentown pennsylvania boasts a long list of environmental features including a vegetative roof and innovative energy and water saving devices . it has been awarded the gold rating from the u.s. green building council s leadership in energy and environmental design program for making use of sustainable development principles . marketing edit in february 2010 the ppl corporation purchased the naming rights to the venue originally known as ppl park in chester pennsylvania which is outside of ppl s service territory the home stadium of major league soccer s philadelphia union . as part of the 25 million 11 year deal ppl energyplus provides sustainable energy to ppl park derived from other sources in pennsylvania . 16 after ppl spun off its generation business into the separate talen energy the stadium naming rights were assumed by the spinoff company and the venue is now known as talen energy stadium . 17 ppl also owns the naming rights to the ppl center in allentown which hosts the lehigh valley phantoms of the american hockey league starting with the 2014 season . ppl paid an undisclosed sum over ten years . 18 references edit ppl corporation timeline http www.hydroworld.com articles 2014 11 northwestern energy closes deal to purchase ppl montana hydroelectric facilities.html ppl s chief nuclear officer retires . fortune 500 2009 ppl fortune 500 ppl . money.cnn.com . retrieved november 29 2012 . sppl to acquire e.on s uk grid networks for gbp3 .5 bn . power gen worldwide . pennwell corporation . 2011 03 02 . retrieved 2011 03 02 . poole claire june 10 2014 . ppl riverstone create talen energy . the street . retrieved march 18 2015 . kraus scott june 1 2015 . talen energy launches monday sells stock tuesday . the morning call . retrieved june 1 2015 . bbc news hyder faces fresh battle western power finances south wales echo report . llanishen rag news ppl electric utilities earns j.d. power and associates award for business customer satisfaction . pr newswire . ppl electric utilities . 22 february 2008 . retrieved 27 october 2015 . ppl energyplus receives j.d. power award for customer satisfaction . pr newswire . ppl corporation dedicates new office building for growing non regulated energy businesses . jasner andy february 25 2010 . ppl buys naming rights . philadelphia union . retrieved february 26 2010 . talen energy assumes stadium naming rights . philadelphia union press release . retrieved december 1 2015 . allentown hockey arena will be ppl center . lehigh valley live . allentown . february 2013 . retrieved february 27 2013 . external links edit ppl official web site . pennsylvania power & light company records 1883 1941 at hagley museum and library retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title ppl corporation & oldid 726261836 categories power companies of the united stateshydroelectric power companies of the united statesnuclear power companies of the united statesnatural gas companies of the united statesenergy companies established in 1920non renewable resource companies established in 1920companies based in allentown pennsylvaniainfrastructure in louisville kentuckynorthwestern corporation damscompanies listed on the new york stock exchange navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages deutschfran ais edit links this page was last modified on 21 june 2016 at 02 47 . text is available under the creative commons attribution 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