Pennsylvania Power & Light Co. was one of four electric utilities to receive an award from the Susquehanna River Basin Commission for efforts to restore shad and other migratory fish to the Susquehanna River.

The commission recognized PP&L for constructing fish lifts on the Holtwood and Safe Harbor hydroelectric dams and for the company's long-standing participation in shad restoration programs on the river.

The three other hydroelectric dam owners on the river -- Metropolitan Edison Co., Baltimore Gas & Electric Co. and PECO Energy -- received the same award.

"The companies' unprecedented multimillion dollar financial investments are at the heart of the fish restoration efforts and a true indication of their dedication to the program," the SRBC said in a written statement.

Linda Bartholomew, PP&L's vice president of Public Affairs, received the award for PP&L at a recent meeting of the Susquehanna River Basin Commission. The basin commission is the governing agency established by the states of Maryland, Pennsylvania and New York to protect and manage the water resources of the river basin.

PP&L is building two fish lifts at the Holtwood dam and sharing the cost of a fish lift with BG&E on the Safe Harbor dam. The lifts, which will allow shad and other migratory fish to pass upriver over the dams, are expected to be completed in time for the spring 1997 shad migration.

Since the installation of a fish lift at PECO's Conowingo dam in Maryland in 1991 and the commencement of a shad trap and transport program funded by all the utilities, a record number of shad have returned to the river. When a fish passage is in place at Met-Ed's York Haven dam in 2000, all four hydroelectric dams will have fish passages and shad once again will be able to migrate upriver to their original spawning grounds. Shad spend most of their lives at sea, but return to fresh water to spawn.

The Susquehanna River starts in Cooperstown, N.Y., and flows 444 miles to Havre de Grace, Md., where the river meets the Chesapeake Bay.