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ALLENTOWN, Pa. (Sept. 7, 2023) – September is National Preparedness Month, and amid an active storm season, PPL Electric Utilities urges customers and communities to plan ahead so they can be as ready as possible if an emergency strikes. 

"This year, we have already experienced 38 storms across the regions we serve," said Sal Salet, vice president of Distribution Operations. "While we continually maintain and upgrade our grid to better withstand more severe storms, we recommend all of our customers plan ahead to be ready for any emergency." 

How customers can prepare:

1. Make a plan: Whether at home or work, develop an emergency plan involving each person at your location so you’ll know how and where to meet, how you will contact each other and what to do in different situations. 
2. Be prepared: Prepare an emergency kit, including non-perishable food, water, medication, first aid supplies and any pet supplies you may need. Be sure to include batteries and battery-operated flashlights. Store your emergency kit in one location, preferably in an air-tight container. 
3. Stay Informed: PPL Electric Utilities uses several ways to communicate with customers before storms and during emergencies. Customers can sign up for alerts at pplelectric.com/alerts. Alerts can be customized based on your preferences, including phone, email, or text message. If an outage does occur, customers can get outage alerts and updates on our website at www.pplelectric.com/outage 

For more tips on reporting outages and staying safe, visit www.pplelectric.com/outage.

How PPL Electric Utilities constantly prepares: 

• Ongoing investments: Throughout the year, PPL Electric Utilities makes key investments to continue to strengthen our electric system to be more resilient against severe weather. This work includes a combination of investments in grid automation, comprehensive line clearing and enhancements to power lines, poles, and other equipment. Since 2015, PPL Electric’s smart grid technology alone has avoided more than 1.7 million outages.
• Training and safety measures: PPL Electric doesn’t just wait for a storm to hit; we prepare all the time. Our teams are constantly training in storm-response techniques and practicing how we respond and dispatch crews. Leading up to severe weather, our team monitors the weather and how storms coming our way have impacted other regions, so we already have crews ready to respond when the storm hits. 
• Mutual response: PPL Electric maintains mutual assistance relationships that provide access to critical resources and hundreds of crews in 29 states and four provinces in Canada when mobilizing for potential large-scale restoration efforts.

“PPL customers are always our top priority,” said Salet. “That remains true whether we are restoring power after a storm or planning investments to our grid. Over the past 10 years, our grid investments have increased reliability by approximately 30%.”

PPL Electric Utilities delivers safe, reliable, and affordable electricity to more than 1.4 million homes and businesses in eastern and central Pennsylvania. It consistently ranks among the country’s best utility companies for reliability and customer satisfaction. PPL Electric Utilities is a major employer and an active supporter of the communities it serves. It is a part of the PPL Corporation (NYSE: PPL) family of companies. Visit pplelectric.com or connect on social media via Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for energy efficiency tips, bill help information, guidance on shopping for an electricity supplier, storm updates and more.

Note to Editors: Visit our media website at www.pplnewsroom.com for additional news and background about PPL Corporation.