Electricity

Typewriter Warehouse, located on a side street off Springfield Road in Westbrook Park, sits in a windowless, cinder-block structure that looks abandoned. But the building is alive inside with imagery from the past: Glossy photos of stars of the golden age of Hollywood stare down into the showroom. And, somehow, Clark Gable and John Wayne seem right at home with vintage Royals and Remingtons. Typewriter Warehouse, owned by Joe Haig - who also happens to be a movie buff - is one of the few outposts of the manual typewriter in Delaware County.

In the new world of competitive electricity markets, one alternative power supplier has attracted the attention of regulators in two states. North American Power, a Connecticut company, is facing a deceptive-practices complaint from the Maryland Public Service Commission that could lead to the loss of its license there. And in Pennsylvania, North American's salespeople have raised eyebrows with aggressive tactics, including a website apparently designed to look like papowerswitch.

SANTA RITA DO SAPUCAI, Brazil - Brazilian inmate Ronaldo da Silva hops on a bicycle and pedals furiously, clocking up several miles before slowing down and jumping off. Silva hasn't gotten far, in fact not an inch. He's still inside the medium-security prison where he's serving a 51/2-year sentence for holding up a bakery, standing next to a stationary bike. But he did move a bit closer to freedom. Silva is part of an innovative program that allows inmates at a prison in Brazil's southeastern Minas Gerais state to reduce their sentences in exchange for generating power to help illuminate the town at night.

Thousands of homes and businesses remained without electricity Saturday as utility company crews worked to repair the outages left from a powerful storm that swept the area Thursday. About 30,000 customers still did not have power by about noon Saturday, said Karen Muldoon Geus, Peco Energy Co.'s director of communications. All electricity service should be restored by Sunday night, she said. More than 200,000 homes and businesses lost power, mainly because of downed trees that snapped lines.

Last Friday morning, PGW managers pulled out the stops when they announced their intention to partner with a California energy company to sell electricity under Pennsylvania's deregulated electricity market initiative. In a gala media show, actors portraying Thomas Edison and Ben Franklin lauded the alliance between the city-owned utility and Edison Source, of City of Industry, Calif. There were balloons, PGW sunglasses and plenty of pastry. By day's end though, some of those balloons burst when the public advocate filed a 25-page opinion urging the Philadelphia Gas Commission to reject PGW's proposal.

A freak accident in the Grenloch area of Washington Township knocked out electric power to more than 5,200 customers yesterday, according to a spokeswoman for the Atlantic Electric Co. Washington Township police said a backhoe being transported on a flatbed trailer fell over on its side at 6:50 a.m. on Grenloch-Hurffville Road near County House Road, as the tractor-trailer was making a turn, and knocked down an electric transformer housed on...

Electricity is in the news these days. After more than a century of being sent a regular take-it-or-leave-it bill from our only source of it, now we're being given a choice of a supplier. But that raises a lot of questions, not just about what we're being asked to choose, but also some more basic questions as well. Here are some: What is electricity, anyway? Well, it's two things, actually. One, it's a stream of minute particles called electrons, so small they're invisible to us. And, two, it's a commodity that can now be bought and sold on the open market.

That weather furnace enveloping the area is breaking electricity records as well as thermometers. Forecast for a tumble today is the day-old record for hourly consumption of electrical power. Philadelphia Electric Co. spokesman J. William Jones predicted 6.463 million kilowatts of electricity would be drawn by customers between 4 and 5 p.m. That's when temperatures were expected to be in the high 90s and, according to Accu-Weather meteorologist Ken Reeves, "some bank thermometers are going to read 100 or slightly higher.

Just when you thought it was safe to make a long-distance call without getting bugged by the Dime Lady, the Legislature is itching to enact a sweeping bill that would deregulate who could sell you electricity. The bill looks pretty good to us, but (surprise) we know our wisdom is not infinite. So it's a deep concern that the final language has been in place only since Nov. 12. Something minor but important about how it all fits together just may have been missed. And how many legislators understand what they'll be voting on - or as lame ducks have incentive to care?

Warning that extreme weather is here to stay, state regulatory officials this week began weighing steps that New Jersey electric utilities should take to improve response times when restoring power to customers. At a hearing Wednesday in the Statehouse Annex, the Board of Public Utilities (BPU) heard a consultant retained by the agency detail some of the 143 recommendations made to deal with future major storms. Two unprecedented storms in 2011, which left nearly 3 million electric customers without power, triggered the investigation.

The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission will install charging stations for electric vehicles at four of its 17 service plazas this year, the commission said Tuesday. Eventually, all of the service plazas will be equipped with charging stations. The first stations, to be installed by summer, will be at the King of Prussia plaza in Montgomery County, the Bowmansville plaza in Lancaster County, the New Stanton plaza in Westmoreland County, and the Oakmont plaza in Allegheny County.

An affiliate of South Jersey Industries Inc., the Folsom energy company, is buying an $8 million fuel cell that will convert natural gas into electricity and steam for a Connecticut hospital. Hartford Steam Co., which is partly owned by South Jersey, will install the 1.4-megawatt fuel cell at Hartford Hospital. Fuel cells electrochemically convert a fuel-like natural gas into electricity and heat in a process that emits virtually no pollutants because there is no combustion. FuelCell Energy Inc., the manufacturer of the power equipment, says a unit that produces electricity and steam can achieve 90 percent efficiency by effectively recycling the waste heat.

LIKE EVERY talented basketball player, Hakeem Baxter was hoping to receive numerous Division I offers. Instead . . . "I only got one," he said. At 7 o'clock Wednesday night, Baxter, an explosive, worker-bee, point-guard prospect from Philadelphia Electrical and Technology Charter, said yes to his one big suitor, Maryland-Eastern Shore, by signing scholarship papers. "I looked at things the right way," he said. "It would have been nice to get more looks, but those guys were really showing me love.

As part of a national Arbor Day Foundation program called "Energy Saving Trees," Atlantic City Electric is offering 2,000 free trees to customers. The idea is that planting them strategically near houses and businesses can help reduce energy bills. Arbor Day officials estimate that within 20 years, the 2,000 mature trees the electric company gives away this year will save $380,000 in energy costs. An online tool developed by the foundation and the Davey Institute, a tree-care group, uses Forest Service research to calculate the benefits of planting trees, including cleaner air and improved storm-water management.

Philadelphia Electrical relied on Hakeem Baxter's 10 points and three steals on Friday night to slip past Palmyra, 48-44, before a capacity crowd at Lebanon High in the opening round of the PIAA Class AAA boys' basketball tournament. Dyshon Pack, a senior forward, added 10 points, 11 rebounds, and 3 blocks. The Chargers fell in the first round last season. "It feels pretty good," coach James Lewis said. "It was loud in there, about 3,000 people. " Neumann-Goretti 81, Harrisburg Bishop McDevitt 54 - John Davis grabbed 13 rebounds and shot 8 for 14 from the field to lead the Saints at Archbishop Ryan.

Philadelphia Electrical relied on Hakeem Baxter's 10 points and three steals on Friday night to slip past Palmyra, 48-44, before a capacity crowd at Lebanon High in the opening round of the PIAA Class AAA boys' basketball tournament. Dyshon Pack, a senior forward, added 10 points, 11 rebounds, and three blocks. The Chargers fell in the first round last season. "It feels pretty good," coach James Lewis said. "It was loud in there, about 3,000 people. " Neumann-Goretti 81, Harrisburg Bishop McDevitt 54 - John Davis grabbed 13 rebounds and shot 8 for 14 from the field to lead the Saints at Archbishop Ryan.

Regional grid operator PJM Interconnection says it authorized more than 750 electric transmission improvement projects last year costing more than $5 billion to prepare for massive shifts in the way power is produced in the region. PJM, which is based in Valley Forge, said the unprecedented switch from older coal-burning power plants in Appalachia to new natural-gas and renewable energy projects is driving the need to reconfigure the grid to maintain a reliable electricity supply.

Atlantic City Electric Co. has asked the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities to approve an increase in its distribution charge on June 1 to pass through higher charges. The adjustment would increase a typical residential customer's monthly bill by 1.86 percent, or about $3.37 for a customer using 1,000 kilowatt hours. The adjustments would pay for the increased cost of mandated long-term power purchase contracts with nonutility generators and increases in the costs of several statewide societal benefits programs, said Frank Tedesco, a company spokesman.

Thankfully, the promised inflatable rat courtesy of Philadelphia's IATSE Local 8 stagehands' union didn't show up at Saturday night's Erykah Badu show at the Electric Factory. Last week, Local 8 claimed on its Facebook page that Electric Factory's stagehands were underpaid, and that neither audience members nor Badu should cross their line. Yet there was no trouble at the Factory (and no indication whether the issue was resolved); only a sold-out crowd roused by the good vibrations of a woman who, in 1997, released two albums - Baduizm, Live - that midwifed the then-burgeoning new music brand of neo-soul.

By Robert F. Powelson In early February, Pennsylvania surpassed two million homeowners and employers using a competitive supplier for their electric service. Just three years ago, as the last of the long-term rate caps on electricity supply expired, only about 337,600 customers were using a competitive supplier. Through consumer education efforts, including www.PAPowerSwitch.com , 34 percent of Pennsylvania electric consumers are using a competitive supplier, and customers have become more comfortable with their ability to shop, save money, and take advantage of incentives.