Pennsylvania Power & Light Co., a company that can trace its roots to Thomas Edison and his early experiments with providing electric power to the public, will mark the 75th anniversary of its incorporation June 4.
Edison built the world's first three-wire electric plant in Sunbury in 1883, just three miles from where PP&L's Sunbury power plant stands today. The year before, shoe manufacturer William Roney brought electricity to Allentown when he installed a crude dynamo in the basement of his factory, providing a light that "shone like the sun" compared with the gas lamps in front of the building.
These two fledgling power companies — along with about 70 others that sprang up throughout the area as the use of electricity grew — were consolidated into Pennsylvania Power & Light Co. on June 4, 1920.
Seventy-five years later, as PP&L is transforming itself to be successful in an electric utility industry undergoing monumental change, employees are pausing to remember those who have come before them — the people who started their company, sustained it through the years and built it into a solid and successful energy supplier for 1.2 million customers in Central Eastern Pennsylvania.
"Our company has undergone a tremendous amount of change in the three-quarters of a century since a group of shareholders, entrepreneurs and investors sat down at a board table in Allentown on a hot June day in 1920 and set PP&L in motion as a modern corporation," said William F. Hecht, chairman, president and chief executive officer.
"In the midst of the most extensive restructuring we've ever done," Hecht said, "it's fitting that we take a moment to pay tribute to those who have faced the immense changes of the past. Our history, first and foremost, is a story of people."
In the early 1920s, electricity was still a novelty for many. It was common in industry and in public places, but many homes remained without electric light. The drive to electrify America was fueled by the creation of nearly 1,900 electric streetcar lines nationwide.
During the 1920s, PP&L built its 23-story tower building. The Allentown landmark stretches 322 feet above Hamilton Street, and serves as the company's corporate headquarters.
Meanwhile, the public began to perceive electric power as a modern necessity, and to meet the growing demand, the company worked to modernize the rural electric companies it now controlled. The Great Depression and floods of the 1930s, the massive industrial mobilization of the World War II years, the post-war boom years of housing and business growth during the 1950s and 1960s, the oil embargo of the 1970s — all of these things presented significant challenges for the people who make up PP&L. And all of these things demonstrated repeatedly the ability of PP&L people to respond to adversity and move on to the next challenge.
"Today, we continue to meet the challenge at hand, as we prepare for increasing competition in the electric utility industry," said Hecht. Changes in federal laws are opening the highly regulated industry to competition for the first time.
PP&L has restructured its management and organization, re-engineered and streamlined work processes and reduced costs to become more competitive. The company has a formal Continuous Performance Improvement Process, its "quality" process, to involve employees at all levels in the transformation.
In April, PP&L shareowners approved the creation of a holding company, PP&L Resources Inc., to be the parent of PP&L and any other subsidiaries that may be created to take advantage of new business opportunities. For example, Power Markets Development Co. was created in 1994 as a subsidiary to invest in electric energy projects domestically and overseas.
PP&L, with about 6,900 employees, serves a 10,000-square-mile area in 29 counties of Central Eastern Pennsylvania. Principal cities in the service territory are Allentown, Bethlehem, Harrisburg, Hazleton, Lancaster, Scranton, Wilkes-Barre and Williamsport.
"As our history demonstrates, we've been successful over the past 75 years by anticipating change, and by taking advantage of opportunities it presents," said Hecht. "That's the key to PP&L's continued success, now and in the future."