The PPL Corporation is an energy company headquartered in Allentown, Pennsylvania, United States. It currently controls about 8,000 megawatts of regulated electric generating capacity in the United States and delivers electricity to 10.5 million customers in Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and Great Britain. PPL is the parent to seven regulated utility companies in the U.S., and it also provides natural gas delivery service to 321,000 customers in Kentucky. PPL Electric Utilities (formerly known as PP&L and Pennsylvania Power and Light) is the PPL Corporation’s primary subsidiary. The majority of PPL’s power plants burn coal, oil, or natural gas. PPL also owns peaking plants, which require few operators and have a high profit margin due to their ability to rapidly come online when the price of electricity spikes. The company is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange.

Southern Company is an American gas and electric utility holding company based in the southern United States. It is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, with executive offices also located in Birmingham, Alabama. The company is currently the second largest utility company in the U.S. in terms of customer base. Through its subsidiaries it serves 9 million gas and electric utility customers in 6 states. Southern Company’s regulated regional electric utilities serve a 120,000-square-mile (310,000 km2) territory with 27,000 miles (43,000 km) of distribution lines.