Press Release

PUC Seeks Public Comment on Proposed Settlement Addressing Widespread Consumer Billing Issues by PPL Electric Utilities

Published on 1/18/2024

Filed under: Electric

Widespread Consumer Issues Including Missing Bills, Inaccurate Bill Estimates, and Customer Service Shortcomings Sparked Proposed Joint Settlement Between PUC’s Independent Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement and PPL

HARRISBURG – The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) today voted to seek public comment from customers of PPL Electric Utilities (PPL) and other concerned parties about a proposed settlement that was sparked by consumer billing issues that stretched through much of 2023.

The settlement – which was proposed by the PUC’s independent Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement (I&E) and PPL – includes payment of a $1 million civil penalty and PPL’s agreement to absorb more than $16 million in related costs.

The Commission voted 5-0 today to publish the proposed settlement in the Pennsylvania Bulletin, which will mark the start of a 25-day public comment period regarding the settlement.

Full instructions for submitting public comment will be provided when the proposed settlement is published in the Pennsylvania Bulletin.

The Commission will carefully review all comments received before issuing a final decision on this case.

Investigation of PPL Billing Issues

In early 2023, the PUC launched a comprehensive investigation into billing issues impacting PPL customers in response to large numbers of consumer calls and complaints about unusually high or low estimated bills, missing monthly bills, and the lack of adequate customer service support resulting in consumers being unable to reach PPL Call Center representatives to discuss their billing concerns.

The matter was referred to I&E – which enforces the Public Utility Code and PUC’s regulations and has the authority to bring enforcement actions before the Commission.

Based on data obtained from PPL during I&E’s investigation, the billing issues originated in December 2022, when PPL discovered that customer meter data was not transferring from the utility’s meter data management software to its customer service system. The inability to transfer actual meter data backed up normal customer billing operations and resulted in sending estimated December 2022 bills. Later, human error caused additional problems, with some customers receiving incorrect bills while others received no bills, and issues with bill estimation resulting in wildly inaccurate bills.

According to the proposed joint settlement, more than 48,000 PPL accounts received no bills during one or more months between the December 2022 and April 2023 billing periods, and during that same period more than 91,000 unique PPL accounts received no bills.

Additionally, between December 2022 and January 2023 nearly 795,000 estimated bills were issued by PPL, and a total of more than 860,000 estimated bills were issued between December 2022 and May 2023.

An analysis of estimated bills issued by PPL revealed that 67.31% (261,104 customers) of the bills had an estimate differing from the customer’s actual usage of 10% or greater. Of these bills, one-third indicated an estimate that varied from actual by more than 25%. And nearly 48,000 customer bills were based on an estimate differing from actual usage by more than 50%.

Further, over 82,000 estimated bills were impacted by missing or inaccurate supply charges – resulting in a process where PPL canceled the initial estimated bills and rebilled accounts to correct errors – generating consumer confusion and creating a complicated tangle of bills that took months to unravel.

Finally, customers who attempted to contact PPL about billing issues were faced with extremely long wait times or were unable to reach the utility at all.  Call center data from the period between January and April 2023 showed that 41% of calls to PPL were abandoned without customers being able to reach a representative.

Proposed Joint Settlement Between I&E and PPL

Based on the information developed during this investigation and the concerns identified by I&E, both PPL and I&E have proposed a settlement to resolve this matter.

Under the terms of the proposed settlement, PPL will pay a $1 million civil penalty, along with undertaking a series of corrective actions in response to these billing issues.

The proposed settlement also notes that PPL has already refunded approximately $1 million to customers who received estimated bills and were overbilled due to the application of the incorrect rates in the bills that addressed the estimated billing periods.

Additionally, PPL has voluntarily agreed to absorb more than $16 million in additional costs related to rectifying their billing issues, including:

• Waiving voluntarily approximately $2.3 million in late payment fees.
• Forgoing recovery of approximately $7.8 million of additional bad debt expense arising out of the voluntary service termination moratorium.
• Forgoing collection of approximately $1.7 million from customers who were underbilled in the estimation true-up process.
• Forgoing recovery of an additional approximately $3.7 million of unplanned costs in engaging external vendors.
• Forgoing recovery of approximately $700,000 of unbudgeted employee overtime expenses.

Per the proposed settlement, PPL will not seek to recover any of these related costs in future rate cases or in any other manner.

A copy of the Commission’s order and the proposed settlement are also being provided to the Pennsylvania Office of Consumer Advocate and Pennsylvania Office of Small Business Advocate for their consideration and comment.

About the PUC

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission balances the needs of consumers and utilities; ensures safe and reliable utility service at reasonable rates; protects the public interest; educates consumers to make independent and informed utility choices; furthers economic development; and fosters new technologies and competitive markets in an environmentally sound manner.

Visit the PUC’s website at puc.pa.gov for recent news releases and video of select proceedings. You can also follow us on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube. Search for the “Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission” or “PA PUC” on your favorite social media channel for updates on utility issues and other helpful consumer information.

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Docket No.: M-2023-3038060

Contact:

• Nils Hagen-Frederiksen
  Press Secretary
  717-418-2701
  nhagen-fre@pa.gov