Business News brief

UGI cuts electric rates

Electric customers of UGI Utilities will get a break next year when the company cuts rates.

It cost the utility’s electric division less to purchase electricity on the wholesale market.

The monthly bill for the average residential heating customer using 1,500 kilowatts a month will decrease by 3.9 percent to $194 from $202.

The drop will be higher for non-heating residential customers. Bills for those using 500 kilowatts a month will drop by 9.9 percent to $72 from $79.

The utility lifted its rate cap in 2003 and customers have been paying market-based prices.

UGI Utilities Electric Division serves 62,000 customers in Luzerne and Wyoming counties.

Tobyhanna cutting 161

Tobyhanna Army Depot has notified two support contractors that it no longer has a requirement for 161 contract workers. The reductions are effective Friday. The reductions are primarily for electronics and industrial trade workers assigned to communications-electronics maintenance and manufacturing work performed at Tobyhanna.

The affected contractors are Defense Support Services LLC and Northrop Grumman Space and Mission Systems Corp.

GM invests $700M in car

General Motors Co. said Monday it will spend $700 million at eight Michigan facilities to get its new rechargeable electric car road-ready — an economic boost for its home state.

GM officials detailed their investment plans for the Chevrolet Volt on the floor of its assembly plant that straddles the border between Detroit and tiny Hamtramck. The plant, which will begin mass producing the Volt in late 2010, is getting a $336 million upgrade that includes new machinery and other equipment.

GM’s combined Volt-related investment also includes $202 million for a new plant in Flint that will build engine generators

Check yourself on Yahoo

Internet company Yahoo is rolling out an online tool that allows consumers to see — and edit — the personal profiles that Yahoo has compiled about them based on their Web browsing behavior. Those profiles are used to target Internet advertising.