SOUTH WHITEHALL TWP., Pa. – U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright announced Thursday that PPL Electric Utilities had received a matching grant worth up to $71.5 million to modernize its transmission lines.
The Allentown-based Fortune 500 company is one of 31 utilities to earn a grant through the federal SPARK Program. The Department of Energy is providing $1.9 billion of federal funding through the initiative to improve network reliability by improving existing transmission corridors.
"We're looking for people that believe in their projects and co-funding with them to make them happen faster. This is a quick way to lower electricity prices and increase reliability," Wright said outside a PPL facility on Church Road.
PPL President Christine Martin said the project will nearly triple capacity along the 29.3 miles of targeted transmission lines, which run through Columbia, Luzerne and Montour counties. The improvements there are expected to ease energy congestion throughout PPL's service area while implementing cutting-edge technology that will shorten or prevent outages, she said.
The announcement comes at a time when energy prices across the country are on the rise, driven in part by spiking electric demand. Martin said that Pennsylvania has been a hotspot for proposed data center development thanks to its thriving energy sector and stable grid. PPL is currently contracted to transmit 11 gigawatts of energy, but demand is expected to skyrocket to 30 gigawatts over the next few years.
President Donald Trump and Gov. Josh Shapiro have each called for new high-load users to pick up the costs associated with higher demand. Martin said that PPL is the only utility in the state to adopt tariffs that would put those policies into practice.
"They have made significant financial and load commitments to make sure they are paying their fair share," she said of the high-end users.
Profit margin debate
Publicly traded utility companies have increasingly drawn criticisms for their profit margins. Earlier this year, Gov. Josh Shapiro accused PECO, the state's largest utility, of trying to raise its rates for "pure greed." PECO later withdrew its 12.5% hike request and its CEO stepped down.
Watchdog groups have accused PPL of being a similar offender. An analysis released in March by the Energy & Policy Group found that the average PPL customer saw about 20.5% of their electric bill contribute directly to PPL's profit margin in 2025. That was the highest share going directly to profits in the northeast, according to the survey.
Earlier in the news conference, U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie praised the Montour project as a way to support fast-growing region's like the Lehigh Valley while keeping electric bills affordable. He noted his support for bipartisan federal legislation that would require greater transparency in electric bills and require high-load users to pick up greater shares of the cost.
"By supporting the common-sense, all-of-the-above approach that strengthens our grid and keeps affordability front and center, we can give our communities a stronger future built on the foundation of of Pennsylvania energy," he said.
When asked if lawmakers need to address profit margins at public utilities, Mackenzie deferred to state authorities. Rate hikes must be approved by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, which has the authority to deny price hikes or negotiate lower rates, he said.
"Electric utilities have to go before them and make their case every single time. Ultimately, it's up to the PUC and those utility commissioners – most of whom are appointed by Gov. Shapiro – to make decisions like that," Mackenzie said.
PPL disputed the Energy & Policy Group's findings Thursday, and Martin called the study systematically flawed. She noted that the company held off on increasing its distribution rate for over a decade. When rates did go up, negotiations with the PUC saw rates increase by less than 4% for the average customer.
"I cannot control, unfortunately, supply costs, which are more than 50% of the driver on our bills and increasing. That is something the secretary and the president are attempting to drive down by front loading new (electric) generation. We need that," Martin said.
In a follow up email following the news conference, PPL spokeswoman Dana Burns noted that PPL's operating and maintenance expenses have grown at a rate 25% below the rate of inflation.
"Profit margin does not automatically mean higher utility revenues or higher electric rates. For a regulated electric distribution company like PPL Electric Utilities, profits do not translate directly from the rates customers pay," Burns wrote.