Suppliers

Purchasing
In 2006, buying and support employees purchased about $1.6 billion in materials and services for PPL's U.S. operations from about 4,900 suppliers. Buyers in the United Kingdom purchased the equivalent of $375 million in materials and services from numerous local and international suppliers. In Latin America, buyers purchased the equivalent of $23 million of materials and services. 

PPL has established a single point of contact for communications with suppliers and internal customers. The goal of this service is to improve supplier relations, address service quality issues and maintain excellent ratings with respect to supplier payments. About 70 percent of PPL's suppliers are paid according to contract terms.

Electronic Commerce
PPL encourages its suppliers to use electronic commerce to receive purchase orders and submit invoices. Using electronic commerce to conduct transactions improves lead times, reduces transaction processing costs, speeds the processing of payments, offers competitive advantages in the bidding process, and improves communications for both PPL and suppliers.

Supplier Diversity
PPL believes in providing equal opportunity to all suppliers, including small businesses and enterprises owned by minorities, women and people with disabilities. Business with diverse suppliers totaled $130.1 million in 2006. 

Supply Principles
PPL adheres to the highest ethical, professional and safety standards in all business transactions. Suppliers must observe the highest standards of business, personal and professional ethics when bidding or providing materials or services to PPL.

Supplier Qualification
All purchase orders and contracts issued by PPL must use a qualified supplier. PPL maintains a list of qualified suppliers and awards business to approved suppliers based on a number of factors, including previous business dealings, competitive prices, and quality materials and services. PPL has a policy that establishes guidelines for application, evaluation and qualification of suppliers to be added to the list.

Safety
Supplier work practices, equipment and services must meet or exceed all applicable safety standards and regulations. Suppliers performing work on PPL property must share PPL's commitment to safety. Accordingly, PPL thoroughly reviews the safety performance of its suppliers and includes compliance requirements in purchase orders and contracts.

Competitive Bidding
PPL competitively bids materials and services to obtain the required quality at the best price, maintain an adequate source of suppliers and enhance marketplace knowledge for planning and purchasing strategy. PPL balances that need with the desire to optimize its supplier database for process and aggregation efficiencies.

Environmental Principles
PPL expects all of its suppliers to be environmentally responsible in the conduct of their business. Accordingly, PPL thoroughly reviews the environmental performance of its suppliers and includes compliance requirements in purchase orders and contracts.

Inventory Management/Investment Recovery
PPL's purchasing and inventory management processes comply with Sarbanes-Oxley reporting requirements. To minimize waste, PPL monitors and adjusts key stocking levels and reorder points. Surplus assets are identified for reuse, resale, recycling or proper disposal.

 This page addresses the following GRI indicators: 2.9 (suppliers), 2.18, 3.16, EC3, EC4, EN33 and HR2