>PPL still hasn't explained exactly what happened. Be nice if some news media would press them on it, but most news outlets simply regurgitate whatever a company or official says.

PPL did not have interval data (15min usage) in their billing system for the days between 12/22 and 12/26. Without usage they were unable to calculate invoices and charges. This also overlapped the cold weather around Christmas, which included extreme spot market prices. The data has been recovered, but there are still issues, not sure what is taking so long to resolve.

PPL is in the business of electric distribution. They do provide electric supply to those that opt not to select a 3rd party supplier. Their strategy to set utility supply rates involve purchases in April and October, with various terms and percentages. These costs are averaged and trued up every six months. Needless to say, October was a terrible time to secure commodity, hence the high price to compare.

3rd party suppliers for residential customers is typically a bad idea. Most people sign up and forget to re-shop at the end of the contract. The supplier is not responsible to return your account to the utility supply, but rather starts billing at a variable rate. This is all spelled out in the contact, but everyone wants to file a complaint. The responsibility is on you. I encourage most people not to shop for their home.