PA Environment Digest Blog: PPL Electric Files Proposal With PUC To Make Electric Transmission Costs More Transparent, Establishes New Way To Assign Costs Incurred For Data Centers To Those Customers

Tuesday, September 15, 2026

PPL Electric Files Proposal With PUC To Make Electric Transmission Costs More Transparent, Establishes New Way To Assign Costs Incurred For Data Centers To Those Customers

On September 14, PPL Electric Utilities filed a proposal with the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission that would make transmission costs more transparent for customers and create a new way to directly assign certain transmission-related costs associated with large energy users to those customers.

The proposal would establish a Customer Protection Transmission Rider (CPTR) and replace the current Transmission Service Charge (TSC).

PPL said it builds on the company's existing Customer Protection Framework, which already requires large-load customers served under the LP-6 rate class to make significant financial and usage commitments before connecting to the system.

Pennsylvania is experiencing increasing interest from data centers and other large energy users that can require substantial electric infrastructure investments.

PPL Electric's Customer Protection Framework is designed to help ensure growth occurs responsibly while supporting affordability, reliability and transparency for existing customers.

The proposed CPTR would add another layer of protection by creating a mechanism to directly allocate certain transmission network upgrade costs associated with serving large-load customers to those customers while giving all customers a clearer view of transmission costs on their bills.

"We want to ensure that all of our customers benefit from economic growth and that includes how investments in the electric grid are supported. As Pennsylvania grows, our responsibility is to make sure existing customers are protected," said Christine Martin, president of PPL Electric Utilities. "This proposal would make transmission costs easier to see on customer bills and provide a way to assign certain transmission costs associated with serving large energy users directly to those customers. It's a practical step that supports responsible growth while helping protect residential and small business customers."

Customer Benefits Of The Proposal

Today, transmission costs are embedded within supply charges on the bill and recovered through existing cost-recovery mechanisms by customers' energy suppliers or by PPL Electric for default service customers.

While these costs are recovered through established regulatory frameworks, this approach makes it difficult for customers to see these costs on their bills and limits the ability for the company to directly assign certain transmission network costs associated with large-load growth to a specific customer class.

The proposed CPTR would address both challenges by making transmission costs visible to customers through a dedicated line item and creating a mechanism for the company to directly allocate certain transmission network upgrade costs associated with LP-6 large-load customers to that customer class.

This added protection helps ensure customers driving the need for new transmission investments contribute directly to those shared costs while increasing transparency and accountability for all customers.

The proposal would not add a new charge. It would replace the existing Transmission Service Charge with a more transparent method of recovering transmission costs while positioning all customers to benefit from the expected reduction in transmission costs as large-load customers begin contributing a larger share of transmission network costs.

If approved, the CPTR is expected to take effect in the first quarter of 2028, further expanding PPL Electric's Customer Protection Framework.

Click Here for a copy of the PUC filing.

Click Here for the PPL announcement.

Resource Links:

-- PUC Moves To Address A.I. Data Center Impacts On Emergency Load Control Procedures, Allocation Of Costs Associated With Large Loads; Technical Conference On Cost Responsibility To Be Held [PaEN]

-- PUC Launches Review Of Utility Ratemaking, Working Group To Address Affordability, Transparency And Changing Economic Conditions [PaEN]

-- PJM Interconnection Proposes Changes To Reliability Standards To Address Situations Where A.I. Data Centers Disconnect From The Grid Without Warning And Threaten Grid Stability [PaEN]