Pennsylvania Power & Light Co. is changing Saturday hours for routine business calls handled by its Customer Contact Center. Effective May 4, Saturday hours for billing questions, service requests, account balances and other routine business items will be 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Customers still will have access to PP&L 24 hours a day, seven days a week to report power outages and other emergencies.

Business calls on Saturdays dropped off dramatically after PP&L changed its schedule for accepting payment arrangement calls. In April, PP&L began accepting those calls Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

"We are looking to make the best use of our resources and reduce our operating costs so we can keep electric rates stable," said Bernard J. Bujnowski, PP&L's manager for Customer Contact Operations. Customers who call for routine business Saturday afternoons will be advised by PP&L's AnswerLine automated response system to call again after 7 a.m. Monday.

PP&L's toll-free phone number for customer calls is 1-800-342-5775 (1-800 DIAL PPL). PP&L's special toll-free number for payment arrangement calls is 1-800-358-6623.