PPL Electric Utilities

I was brought onto the PPL project as lead product designer because of my experience with the original LKE app.

In 2021, I designed the usage experience during Phase 2 of the LKE mobile app development using the established design system and workflow paradigms. This included a usage graph, usage table, and several edge cases. We unfortunately didn't have the time or budget to develop an interactive graph that allowed users to tap and drag to see more usage data than the screen space allowed. My solution was a dropdown menu that allows users to switch between the current and past 6 months of data.

The usage experience with PPL Rhode Island branding applied.

After usage, I designed the paperless billing enrollment experience, supported the LKE team with small app updates, and mentored a junior designer on their work designing the cashless pay experience. I became well-versed in the world of LKE. I used this historical knowledge to design new experiences and guide the visual direction of the new PPL apps for Pennsylvania in 2024 and Rhode Island in 2025.

We tackled the Pennsylvania app first.

The process started by aligning with the PPL brand team on a visual direction that removed drop shadows, added strokes, and updated colors to align with the PPL brand. The rest of the app look and feel would remain aligned with the LKE app to convey a cohesive one PPL experience. To implement this, I modernized the design file and system. This process was cumbersome, but vital. It ultimately saved hours of time once we transitioned from the Pennsylvania app to the Rhode Island app.

We applied the same approach to the user experiences. They align with LKE as much as possible except when business rules require updates to the workflows. The largest differences came from billing edge cases, outage reporting, and notification management.

Rhode Island billing edge cases including states of the billing screen and payment workflows.

Original LKE outage reporting workflow. Designed by Kendall Kiernan.

PPL Rhode Island outage reporting workflow.

Brand new experiences needed to be designed for electricity supply shopping (Price to Compare) and standard and two specialized payment plans. For new workflows, we used the web experience designs as our user flow and adapted it for the mobile environment.

Soon after completing the Pennsylvania app, we began work on the Rhode Island app. We used Pennsylvania as our foundation because of the brand and business' similarity to Rhode Island, but also because the Figma file had been modernized. The only design changes needed were the dark blue HEX value and UX copy. New experiences were introduced for gas services and Auto Pay enrollment and management. More minor changes were made to billing scenarios, outage reporting, processing payments, and more.

Price to Compare screens with PPL Pennsylvania branding applied.

The changes from Pennsylvania to Rhode Island became cumbersome to track, so I created a change log. In total, there were 117 changes from minor copy updates to entirely new workflows. The document became a vital tool for the entire team, but especially for the sales team who used it to justify additional time needed to build the app.

The most crucial part of the overall process was the bi-weekly syncs held with the PPL design expert and subject matter experts ahead of review with key client stakeholders. These syncs ensured the designs followed business rules, revealed any missing scenarios, and established trust with client. The relationship became truly collaborative and friendly as we worked so closely together.

High-level standard payment plan states: down payment due for enrollment, active enrollment, and payment plan completion.

OnTrack payment plan card states including active enrollment, active application, and overlapping active enrollment and application scenarios.