PPL electric rates: your price to compare, line by line

PPL's price to compare is what PPL charges for power when you do not pick a supplier. Today it is 13.079¢ per kWh. A kWh, or kilowatt-hour, is the unit of power on your bill. PPL's rates page says this price is good from July 1 through Nov. 30, 2026.

PPL's tariff shows what is inside it. The generation charge is 9.753¢ and the transmission charge is 3.326¢. Together they are the price to compare.

Why did it change on July 1?

The rate case reset the merchant function charge, which is a built-in allowance for bills that never get paid. PPL refiled its transmission charge with the PUC on June 11 to match. The tariff marks the new transmission rate as a decrease.

How has PPL's price moved?

The price fell 31% from the winter of 2022-23 to mid-2024. Then it climbed 30%. Since the June 2024 low of 10.04¢, supply costs $30.39 more a month at 1,000 kWh. PPL says higher capacity prices paid to generators in PJM, the regional grid operator, drive the rise. The PUC adds higher natural gas prices and defines capacity costs as payments that keep power available at peak demand.

What will Dec. 1 bring?

No one outside PPL knows yet. PPL had not posted a Dec. 1 price when we checked on Oct. 20, 2026. Its tariff says it files its new transmission charge with the PUC by Nov. 1. The past three Dec. 1 changes at PPL were down 9%, up 7.3% and up 3.7%.

1. By Nov. 1PPL files its new transmission charge with the PUC, as its tariff requires.
2. Late NovemberThe PUC lists every utility's Dec. 1 price in a news release. It did so on Nov. 29, 2023, Nov. 25, 2024 and Nov. 24, 2025.
3. Dec. 1, 2026The new price starts. PPL says it changes again on June 1.

PPL lets you sign up for price-change alerts on its rates page.

PPL's tariff builds a home bill from four charges. Two do not change with your supplier: a monthly customer charge and a delivery charge. The other two, transmission and generation, are the price to compare. A supplier's price replaces both.

What each charge pays for

• Customer charge, $15.00 a month. You pay it every month, even if you use no power. It was $14.09 before July 1, 2026.
• Delivery, 6.175¢ per kWh. This pays for PPL's poles, wires and crews. About 4.78¢ is the base rate set in the rate case. Riders add the rest, about 1.4¢. The biggest rider, at 1.024¢ in 2026, funds programs that help customers who struggle to pay.
• Transmission, 3.326¢ per kWh. This pays to move power over high-voltage lines. PPL bills it only to customers on its own price.
• Generation, 9.753¢ per kWh. This is the power itself. A supplier's price covers it, along with transmission.

We left out two small items. The state tax adjustment is 0.008% on delivery and 0.001% on the rest, under a penny at 1,000 kWh. The distribution improvement charge is 0.00% through Dec. 31, 2026. The gross receipts tax is already inside the price to compare. A supplier's price includes taxes too.

A PPL bill at common usage

The PUC says the average PPL home used 941 kWh a month in 2025 and paid $186.88. At today's rates the same use costs about $196.19, or $9.31 more. Small users pay more per kWh, because the $15.00 spreads over fewer kWh. Every 1¢ change in the price to compare moves a 1,000 kWh bill by $10 a month, or $120 a year.

Type the kWh from your PPL bill to see every line at today's rates. Then add an offer's price and monthly fee to compare a full year with PPL's price.

An estimate, not a bill. It uses PPL's tariff and today's price to compare, leaves out a state tax adjustment of under a penny, and assumes PPL's price stays where it is for 12 months. A supplier's price replaces both the transmission and generation lines.

Yes, some do. On October 20, 2026, PA Power Switch listed 148 home offers for PPL's regular home rate, and 55 of them were priced under the price to compare. Counts leave out our partner's plans.

The middle fixed price for 12 months or more is 13.68¢. Set it against the 13.079¢ price to compare. At 1,000 kWh, each 1¢ under the price saves $10 a month, or $120 a year. PA Power Switch says a one cent saving can add up to more than $100 a year, depending on use.

The catches in a cheap offer

About 3 in 10 PPL homes buy from a supplier. On Sept. 30, 2026, 406,313 PPL homes (31.0%) did. That is 55,098 fewer than a year earlier, the PUC's monthly update shows. For help reading an offer, see how to use PA Power Switch. For who sells here, see Pennsylvania electric suppliers.

1. Get your kWhRead it off your PPL bill. If you cannot, use 1,000 as a stand-in.
2. Pick offers worth testingFixed price, 12 months or more, no monthly fee, no cancel fee.
3. Run each one in the bill builderType the price and fee, then compare the 12-month totals.
4. Decide with a marginSwitch for a gap of about 1¢ or more. Stay if it is under half a cent.

Why a margin? A fixed price holds for the whole term. PPL's price resets twice a year, so the gap on day one is not the gap in month nine. A gap of 1¢ is $120 a year at 1,000 kWh. A gap under half a cent is $60 or less, and one reset can erase it. This margin is our rule of thumb, not PPL's or the PUC's.

Stay on PPL's price if you are in OnTrack. PPL's plan filed with the PUC says the account must be on default service to finish enrolling, so shoppers must go back first.

If you want to come back to PPL, cancel with your supplier. PPL says you then return to its price to compare automatically. A cancel fee may apply, unless you are in the last 30 days of your contract.

PPL raised its delivery rates on July 1, 2026. PPL says it was its first base rate increase since 2016. The PUC approved about $275 million of the $356.3 million PPL asked for, in a 5-0 vote.

1. Sept. 30, 2025PPL files its rate case with the PUC.
2. June 4, 2026The PUC approves the settlement, with changes, in a 5-0 vote.
3. July 1, 2026New delivery rates start. The customer charge goes from $14.09 to $15.00 and the base rate from 3.53¢ to 4.78¢ per kWh.
4. Aug. 27, 2026The PUC denies a request to reconsider, and the case closes.
5. Oct. 1, 2026The delivery rate edges up from 6.157¢ to 6.175¢ per kWh, as the storm damage rider rises.
6. July 1, 2027Reconnection fees are waived for homes at or below 150% of the poverty line.

PPL puts the change at about $6.48 a month at 1,000 kWh. The PUC put a home using 918 kWh at about $184.49 a month, up 4.9%. PPL agreed not to raise its base delivery rates for two years. Riders and the price to compare can still move. The Oct. 1 step came from a rider, not from base rates.

Call PPL, not your supplier. PPL delivers the power over its own lines, so outages are its job whoever sells you the power.

• Text "outage" to TXTPPL.
• Report it online or check the outage map at pplelectric.com.
• Call 1-800-342-5775 (1-800-DIAL-PPL). For a downed wire, say "downed power line" and stay at least 100 feet away.
• Sign up for PPL Alerts to get text, email or phone updates.

The PUC grades each utility against its own 1994-98 average, called the benchmark, and a looser limit, called the standard. Lower is better.

In plain words, outages at PPL are not more frequent than its target, but they take longer to fix. The PUC's report says that since 2020, PPL "has failed to achieve its CAIDI benchmark and has consistently exceeded its standard."

Call PPL at 1-800-342-5775 before a bill is overdue. It is open Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

• Budget billing averages your use over the year, so each bill is about the same. The PUC says the company may adjust it up to four times a year.
• OnTrack gives a fixed monthly payment and forgives part of any past-due debt for homes under the income limits. The most it can cut is $3,150 a year with electric heat, or $1,950 with gas or oil heat.
• Other help includes payment plans, a hardship fund and LIHEAP. Our guide to help paying your electric bill covers who qualifies and how to apply.

PPL delivers power to about 1.5 million customers in 29 counties of eastern and central Pennsylvania. In many of them it serves only some towns, becuase other utilities serve the rest. Its tariff names the cities of Allentown, Bethlehem, Harrisburg, Lancaster, Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Hazleton and Pittston.

The counties are Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Chester, Clinton, Columbia, Cumberland, Dauphin, Juniata, Lackawanna, Lancaster, Lebanon, Lehigh, Luzerne, Lycoming, Monroe, Montgomery, Montour, Northampton, Northumberland, Perry, Pike, Schuylkill, Snyder, Susquehanna, Union, Wayne, Wyoming and York.

• Philadelphia is served by PECO. See PECO rates.
• Pittsburgh is served by Duquesne Light. See Duquesne Light rates.
• Reading, Erie and State College are served by FirstEnergy. See FirstEnergy Pennsylvania rates.
• Your bill names your utility.