Utilities & Telecom

Getting you connected               

Utilities are a critical component of establishing a facility.  Greater Reading offers high-capacity, reliable, and competitive utilities for your business.  Our electric, gas, and telecommunications companies stand ready to help you get connected. 

Electric

Greater Reading and Berks County is served by two of the nation's major electric utilities: FirstEnergy Corporation/Met-Ed and PPL.

FirstEnergy Corporation, headquartered in Akron, OH, is involved in the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity; the marketing of natural gas; and energy management and other energy-related services. Its seven electric utility operating companies comprise the nation's fifth largest investor-owned electric system and serve 4.4 million customers in Ohio, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. One of these operating companies, Met-Ed (Metropolitan Edison Company), provides electric service to customers in the Greater Reading and Berks County region.

PPL, headquartered in Allentown, Pennsylvania controls about 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.

Gas

UGI Utilities, Inc. Gas Division is a local natural gas distributor serving approximately 300,000 customers in 14 counties including Greater Reading and Berks County. UGI Gas Division is headquartered in Reading. The company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of UGI Corporation, based in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.

Telecommunications  

 Comcast is headquartered in Philadelphia and is the country's largest provider of cable, entertainment, and communications products and services with nearly 24 million cable customers, 15 million high-speed Internet customers, and 7 million Digital Voice customers.

Windstream Communications is an Integrated Communications Provider that supplies telephone and data access services to more than 177,000 lines in central and southeast Pennsylvania. The company also offers long distance, D&E Jazzd Internet and voice, and data network systems integration services to customers in the Greater Reading region.

Verizon Communications Inc. is one of the world's leading providers of communications services. Verizon's business units include Domestic Telecom which serves customers in 29 states with wireline telecommunications services, including broadband and nationwide. Verizon Wireless owns and operates the nation’s most reliable wireless network, serving 43.8 million voice and data customers across the United States.

More consumers and businesses in Berks County can enjoy the benefits of high-speed Internet access now that Verizon Online has expanded its availability here. As a result of the company's most recent expansion and upgrade of its local telecommunications network, Verizon Online DSL is now available on about 1,550 additional lines in the Shillington, Krumsville and St. Lawrence areas of Berks County.