The total bill for customers of PPL Gas Utilities will decrease, effective June 1, because of a reduction in the portion of the bill that covers natural gas purchases.

A decrease in the Gas Supply Charge from $7.47 to $7.13 per dekatherm will reduce the total monthly bill of a residential customer who uses 9 dekatherms of natural gas by 2.8 percent, from $111.12 to $108.06. The actual reduction seen by individual customers will depend on how much gas they use.

The Gas Supply Charge is a pass-through on customer bills that reflects the price PPL Gas Utilities pays to purchase natural gas for its customers.

"We do not have our own natural gas production. We buy gas from producers who own and operate gas wells, and the producers charge prices based on what the market will pay, not on regulation," explained Robert M. Geneczko, president of PPL Gas Utilities.

While prices charged by natural gas producers are not regulated, the rates of PPL Gas Utilities are. State regulation prohibits gas utilities from making a profit on the gas they buy for customers.

The June 1 reduction also applies to commercial and industrial customers. The total monthly bill for a commercial customer using 33 dekatherms of natural gas will decrease by 3.2 percent to $337.71. The total monthly bill for an industrial customer using 170 dekatherms of natural gas will decrease by 3.4 percent to $1,617.11.

PPL Gas Utilities delivers natural gas to 75,000 customers in parts of 34 Pennsylvania counties through its PFG Gas and North Penn Gas subsidiaries.

PPL Gas Utilities is a subsidiary of PPL Corporation. Headquartered in Allentown, Pa., PPL Corporation (NYSE: PPL) controls more than 12,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the United States, sells energy in key U.S. markets and delivers electricity to nearly 5 million customers in Pennsylvania, the United Kingdom and Latin America. More information is available at www.pplweb.com.