The industry is abuzz with speculation that PPL might sell generating plants... PPL projects that this year nearly all of its earnings will come from its regulated businesses suggesting the company has relatively little to lose by selling all or some of its supply assets... The company would not speculate on the effect a divestiture could have on PPL's employment base, which includes about 1,700 people in multiple buildings around the Hamilton Street headquarters in downtown Allentown."
COMMENTARY
Let me explain why this is really, really bad. When a company generates, maintains and delivers electric miles away, the costs for all of those are negatives. They make up those costs when they sell the electricity. I call this the 'cost of doing business'. If and when some company/investment group buys up generating plants they need to sustain a profit where there was none before. In other words they need to turn a negative cash flow into a positive one. While this might be good for PPL's bottom line, how on God's green Earth could this in any way possible be of benefit to consumers?
In today's world of deregulation I could hang out a shingle and become 'LVCI Electric' even though I don't have a clue about generators or distribution systems nor own a single one of them. In other words I'd be the unnecessary fifth wheel in what has become a legal way of stealing (to my way of thinking).
Thusly explaining why some customers have seen bills that have gone up 259% in one month alone. PPL currently charges 7.85 cents a kilowatt hour. The company in this article charged their customers 22.63 cents despite the fact they do not generate nor distribute the electric here in Pennsylvania. Now imagine what it will cost
Folks only a fool robs people with a gun.
even though i own some ppl stock, i agree with you that it is in the public's best interest that ppl continue generating electricity. i suspect that it might even be in ppl's long term interest. as you note, de-regulation has not served the public
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