More than 125,000 PP&L customers signed up to participate in the company's Customer Choice pilot program over the past two weeks.

Under the provisions of the program as established by the state Public Utility Commission, there are about 61,000 slots available in the PP&L pilot.

Hank Baumann, PP&L pilot administrator, said an independent third party will conduct a lottery Thursday (10/2) to select those who will participate in the program.

"On Friday, we will begin notifying the customers who were selected — via the lottery — to participate," said Baumann. "We also will be notifying those who were not selected. We regret that under the pilot we cannot accommodate all those who signed up to participate."

Baumann noted, however, that if selected pilot participants drop out, those who signed and were not selected initially will be given an opportunity to enter the pilot. This will be done in the order in which they were selected in the lottery.

Baumann said PP&L is very pleased with the response to the program, which is the first step in the state's path toward a competitive electricity generation marketplace.

Pilot participants will have the opportunity to select the company that generates their electricity from a number of suppliers that are licensed in the commonwealth. PP&L will be offering competitively priced electricity through its PP&L EnergyPlus brand.

Those selected to participate will receive additional information on what to do next.

The pilot runs through the end of 1998. Beginning in January 1999, customer choice will be phased in for all Pennsylvania electric customers over a three-year period.

PP&L customers who elect to participate in the pilot will receive a credit of up to 4 cents on their bills for each kilowatt-hour of electricity they purchase in the competitive market. The credit varies based on customer class. A customer's net savings will result from the difference between the cost of electricity purchased in the competitive market and the amount of the customer credit.

As customers have the opportunity to choose the company that generates their electricity, PP&L will continue to provide customer services, deliver electricity and maintain electric lines.

In all, about 270,000 customers throughout Pennsylvania will be participating in the pilot.