One of the world's largest suppliers of electrical transmission and distribution equipment and a major electric utility company have teamed up to provide testing, repair and maintenance services to the commercial electric power industry in the Mid Atlantic region.
ABB Power T&D Company, Inc. - a part of the worldwide ABB Group - has entered into a Transmission & Distribution Services Alliance with PP&L, Inc., which provides electric delivery services to 1.3 million customers in Pennsylvania.
ABB will use PP&L's state-of-the-art, 300,000-square-foot, testing and maintenance facility near Hazleton, Pennsylvania, as one of its eight regional T&D Service Centers. PP&L's facility will serve transmission and distribution customers in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and the District of Columbia.
Much of the testing, maintenance and repair work will be done by existing PP&L employees using PP&L equipment.
"Deregulation of the U.S. electrical power industry is bringing major changes to the power generation, transmission and distribution markets," said Joe Banasiewicz, vice president and general manager of ABB Power T&D Services.
He said many companies in the power industry are discovering the benefits of outsourcing service functions to specialists who can handle the additional workload while keeping current with industry innovations.
"We see PP&L as one of these electrical transmission and distribution system service specialists," Banasiewicz said. "Combining PP&L's abilities and experience with ABB's technical and commercial strength allows us to offer service packages that make good business sense to customers in today's market conditions."
Bob Geneczko, PP&L vice president for Power Delivery, agreed that the combination of the two companies' strengths makes this business alliance very attractive.
"PP&L and ABB are both customer-focused companies with decades of experience in the commercial electric power industry," Geneczko said.
He noted that PP&L has been looking for business opportunities to use its expertise in testing and maintenance services for electric delivery equipment.
"ABB helps us in that regard by adding the sales and marketing capabilities of a worldwide leader in the electric power industry to our technical experience and equipment," Geneczko said. "Working together, we can provide transmission and distribution services more effectively than either company could do on its own."
Available services include testing, maintenance and repair of transformers, circuit breakers, relays, switchgear, reclosers, metering and other equipment; engineering services; project management and diagnostic services.
ABB Power T&D Services provides routine and upgrade services for utilities, industrial plants and independent power producers seeking to increase capacity, improve reliability and reduce costs. ABB Power T&D Services centers are strategically located in Hazleton, Pa.; Charlotte; Baton Rouge, La.; Minneapolis; Houston; Phoenix; Chicago and San Francisco.
Headquartered in Raleigh, N.C., ABB Power T&D Company Inc. is a leading supplier of power transmission and distribution equipment, systems and solutions to utilities as well as to industrial and commercial consumers.
ABB Power T&D Company Inc. and its parent, ABB USA, headquartered in Norwalk, Conn., are part of the worldwide ABB Group. The Group reported orders of $31 billion in 1998 and employs 175,000 people in more than 100 countries. For more information, visit ABB on the web at www.abb.com.
PP&L, Inc. is a subsidiary of Allentown, Pa.-based PP&L Resources, Inc. (www.pplresources.com). PP&L Resources is a Fortune 500 company that delivers electricity and natural gas to more than 1.3 million customers in Pennsylvania; sells wholesale and retail energy in the United States and Canada; generates electricity at power plants in Pennsylvania, Maine and Montana; delivers electricity to 1.4 million customers in southwest Britain; and delivers electricity to more than 800,000 customers in Chile, Bolivia and El Salvador.