ALLENTOWN, PA — PPL Electric Utilities has filed a request with the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) for a distribution rateincrease, its first since 2016. If approved, the rate hike would add approximately $13 a month to the bill of a typical residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per month, representing about a 7% increase.
The Allentown-based utility company stated that the requested increase is necessary to fund an estimated $300 million in investments. These funds will be used for significant upgrades to the electric grid, including strengthening infrastructure to better withstand increasingly severe weather events, implementing advanced smart-grid technologies to prevent outages and speed up restoration times, and improving customer service systems…