Concert blessings

HOPKINSVILLE

On July 27, popular country music singers and songwriters will take the stage for the 13th annual Brice Long and Friends Benefit Concert in Hopkinsville. Six months later—around Christmas—profits from that performance will help some 50 families in Christian, Trigg and Todd counties.

The tie between the concert and the Christmas event goes back to 2005 when renowned songwriter Brice Long wanted to give back to his native Hopkinsville after achieving success in Nashville, including a Country Music Association nomination for Song Of The Year for Like A Cowboy.

Long created Back2Back and named Pennyrile Electric’s Brent Gilkey as chairman of the nonprofit foundation.

Since its inception, Back2Back has raised more than $551,000 and helped more than 320 families.

“This foundation has just grown and grown,” says Gilkey, vice president of member services and communications for Pennyrile Electric. “Each year we talk with families in need and find out their most urgent needs. Back2Back representatives then make deliveries to families in each county. We focus on the family’s needs but also provide items that the children just want. Each delivery is customized for that particular family.”

Bull’s-eye

BENTON

Tony Martin, manager of operations for Jackson Purchase Energy Corporation, has spent much of his free time in the past three years focused on a yellow dot.

Both of his children—Jon, 14, and Nya, 12—started archery at New Harmony Baptist Church. Dad Tony realized this was their passion, so he wanted to support it. Tony now volunteers as an archery coach for sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-graders at both New Harmony Baptist Church and North Marshall Middle School. This year the team went to the state championship.

But it’s not their prowess with a bow and arrow that attracts Tony or the kids to the sport.

“The thing I like about archery is that you don’t have to be really athletic to participate,” Tony says. “It’s really good for kids who are not natural basketball or baseball players. Every child fits in.”

It’s also rewarding for the coaches.

“Nothing can pay you for what you get in return for volunteering,” Tony says.

How a veteran Kentucky co-op worker inspired FERC Chairman Neil Chatterjee 

As a high school student in Lexington, Kentucky, Neil Chatterjee learned about rural electrification from the passenger seat.

His girlfriend’s grandfather, Robert “Bob” Sowders, would drive Neil and Rebecca across Kentucky’s backroads, territory Sowders served during his 41 years with the Kentucky Association of Electric Cooperatives.

“He would drive us around parts of rural Kentucky and point out communities that not even a generation earlier didn’t have access to a consistent supply of affordable electricity,” Chatterjee recalls during a conversation in his Washington, D.C., office.

Twenty-five years later, Neil and Rebecca are married with three children, and Chatterjee is now in the driver’s seat of U.S. energy policy as chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Among the Kentucky mementos on his bookshelves is an electric co-op paperweight from Rebecca’s late grandfather. The tiny transformer inside transports Chatterjee to the early energy education that first piqued his curiosity about electricity.

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“I just kind of asked him, ‘Hey Grandpa, what is it exactly that you do? What is an electric cooperative?’ And he explained it to me. He explained the significance of rural electrification and what it meant for Kentucky, not just rural Kentucky but all Kentuckians. And that was my introduction to the electricity field. And if you had told me back then that someday I would be working in this capacity, I don’t think I would have believed you.”

Regulating the nation’s energy

Nominated to FERC by President Donald J. Trump, Chatterjee was confirmed by the Senate in 2017. He has served as chairman twice: He served four months in 2017, and was again named chairman on October 24, 2018.

“You have to take the whole country’s perspective into play when you set these policies,” Chatterjee says. “But where you’re from impacts how you view the world and how you navigate these difficult policy issues, and I think my roots in the Bluegrass certainly color the way that I approach things here. And I want folks in Kentucky to know that there are people in Washington who understand the challenges and opportunities that Kentuckians face.”

In the May issue of Kentucky Living, Chatterjee detailed FERC action on energy issues and shared how he traveled with Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell to Kentucky communities affected by the closing of coal mines and power plants.

“People don’t have alternative forms of employment. The only value that families have is their homes, and oftentimes they have owned these homes for generations. But their homes lose value because people aren’t willing to move to an area without hope for economic prosperity. That’s really, really difficult for me to swallow,” Chatterjee says.

Though the Federal Power Act does not enable FERC to factor in those considerations in its decision making, Chatterjee hopes to connect energy and technology innovators with potential opportunities in Kentucky.

“Kentuckians are familiar with working in the energy business and a lot of these entrepreneurs in the energy space want to come to Kentucky and do business in Kentucky. And so, perhaps that will be my contribution to helping these communities struggle with this difficult energy transition.”

Bluegrass roots run deep

Chatterjee’s desire to help people is in his DNA. His parents, Sunil and Malaya Chatterjee, are noted cancer researchers who moved to Kentucky from Buffalo, New York, to work at the University of Kentucky’s Markey Cancer Center.

“They brought us down over Thanksgiving break to visit Lexington under the premise that we were going to go to a UK basketball game,” Chatterjee says.

Because fellow Buffalo native Christian Laettner had been his tennis coach, Chatterjee was a Duke University basketball fan. Yet by the time Kentucky won the national championship in 1996, Chatterjee was a member of Big Blue Nation.

“I ran out on the court,” Chatterjee laughs. “I think I jumped on Allen Edwards’ back at some point to try to get closer to the net. It was so fun.”

A graduate of Henry Clay High School in Lexington, Chatterjee says most of his best friends are folks that he met here. “My roots in the Bluegrass run deep.”

Speaking at the Kentucky Governor’s Conference on Energy and the Environment in Lexington earlier this year, Chatterjee saw the faces of fellow Kentuckians and friends. The last time he had been on that hotel ballroom stage he was giving a toast at his wedding reception.

His mentor Mitch McConnell

“I still consider myself to be a Kentuckian,” Chatterjee says, crediting Senate Majority Leader McConnell with the propulsion of his energy leadership. After first working on energy issues as an aide to House Republican Conference Chairwoman Deborah Pryce of Ohio, Chatterjee served in government relations for the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. He then became an energy policy advisor to McConnell, who he says has meant “everything” to his career.

“Starting from just giving me an opportunity, taking a chance on me. Trusting me. What I have learned from him I could write volumes,” Chatterjee says. “His approach to leadership, to policymaking, to governing, he’s just been incredible. And then I think one of the more understated elements of his impact to Kentucky in his career is the fact that not just me, so many Kentuckians have gotten opportunities to serve at high levels of government because of him, because of the opportunities he has given us. And I think, look, it’s good for Kentucky to have people who understand Kentucky in positions where policy decisions are being made.”

And the lessons Chatterjee learned from a Kentucky electric co-op veteran 25 years ago continue to resonate in the FERC hallways today.

“That electricity is the one public policy area that touches literally every single American,” Chatterjee says, “And that we are so blessed in this country to have the sophisticated infrastructure that we do. I would say that the electric grid is probably mankind’s greatest invention. And the U.S. grid is a fascinating thing. It takes a lot of hard work to maintain it, but it’s important. And that’s what Grandpa Sowders taught me.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – All eight members of Kentucky’s congressional delegation met with Kentucky co-op leaders at the U.S. Capitol on April 30 as co-ops advocated for several legislative priorities.

Thirty-six Kentucky co-op leaders, including managers, directors and statewide association staff represented the concerns of local consumer-members during the NRECA’s 2019 Legislative Conference.

Co-op leaders expressed gratitude to all federal lawmakers who voted to approve the 2018 Farm Bill which included specific provisions related to co-op loans that helped a number of co-ops avoid rate increases. In particular, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers and U.S. Rep. James Comer were commended for their dedication in advancing the co-op friendly provisions.

Every Kentuckian in Congress expressed support for the issues presented by co-op leaders during their Capitol Hill visits, including these three key items:

• Protect the tax-exempt status of co-ops

Recent changes to the Internal Revenue Code created an unintended consequence for rural electric cooperatives. Because government grants are now considered non-member income, this may impair the ability of co-ops to use the full value of a grant to benefit members. A co-op struck by disaster may have to consider whether it can afford to use FEMA’s Public Assistance Program to help restore power. In essence, co-ops could be forced to choose between maintaining tax-exempt status or accepting FEMA assistance when recovering from a major storm or disaster.

Without a legislative fix, some USDA funding and potential income from broadband services could also affect co-ops’ tax-exempt status. Kentucky’s two senators and six representatives were urged to take action to amend Section 501(c)(12) to retain the tax-exempt status of electric co-ops.

This will allow the full use of federal, state or local grants to benefit consumer-members.

• Stop PBGC overcharging

Members of Congress were urged to support H.R. 1007, the “Retirement Enhancement and Savings Act” and similar legislation expected in the Senate.

By our nature, co-ops pose virtually no risk of default to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, yet we continue to pay high-risk premiums. Current PBGC rules designed for “single-employer” for-profit companies inappropriately require co-ops to divert scarce resources from our core mission.

Passing this legislation saves Kentucky’s electric cooperatives more than $1 million annually and saves more than $30 million for electric co-ops across the country.

• Protect the Power Marketing Administrations and Tennessee Valley Authority

The five Kentucky co-ops served by the Tennessee Valley Authority expressed concern about a Trump Administration budget item that would sell the assets of the Tennessee Valley Authority and the Power Marketing Administrations. This change would jeopardize the affordability of electricity for more than 100 million Americans. In addition, local managers of TVA co-ops explained to the lawmakers that TVA customers have already paid for TVA assets. Any privatization would ultimately make those local TVA customers pay for the assets again.

Members of Congress were encouraged to visit local co-ops in Kentucky. The Legislative Conference is an annual event. Local co-ops are encouraged to send representatives for the event. The Capitol Hill day is coordinated by Kentucky Electric Cooperatives.

Rick Ryan, Nolin RECC’s vice president of marketing and member services, Elizabethtown, was awarded Touchstone Energy Cooperatives’ Distinguished Service Award on March 12.

The award is the brand’s highest honor, presented annually to a co-op employee or director who has made outstanding contributions to building the brand.

Touchstone Energy Cooperatives represents a nationwide alliance of member-owned electric co-ops. Collectively, it delivers power and energy solutions to more than 750 local electric cooperatives across 46 states, forming the largest electric utility in the country.

Ryan serves as a brand ambassador, educating new employees on the value of Touchstone Energy and Nolin RECC’s unique role as one of the founding members in 1998.

One-on-one with Kentucky native Neil Chatterjee

The Kentuckian who serves as the chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is well aware of how a decline in coal use affects his home state.

“It’s very significant, and it’s heartbreaking to be honest,” says Neil Chatterjee in an interview at his office in Washington, D.C. “We saw firsthand the devastating impact in these communities and what’s felt amongst the people when the power plants and the mines that feed them close.”

In 2009, coal accounted for 58% of the fuel mix used by electric co-ops across America. By 2016, coal’s share had been reduced to 41%. Meanwhile inexpensive natural gas has increased its share from 12% to 26%.

Energy security

While the natural gas boom has resulted in cheaper energy
generation, it has also raised questions about the nation’s energy security. Though FERC rejected a proposal advocated by U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry that would have provided federal assistance to prop up coal and nuclear plants, Chatterjee tells Kentucky Living that FERC and the Department of Energy continue to examine how grid reliability and resilience are affected when coal and nuclear plants shut down. As a quasi-judicial body, FERC relies on a body of evidence to make its decisions.

“What does the term resilience really mean?” Chatterjee asks. “How do we evaluate resilience? Is there a threat as evidenced by the record to the resilience? And if the answers to all these questions are ‘Yes, there is a threat to resilience,’ what actions can we take that are going to be legally defensible and hopefully within markets to address it?”

Chatterjee says while federal officials consider those complex questions, he has a sense of urgency and a concern that some coal plants will close as the commission completes its analysis.

“Because once they’re gone, you can’t get them back. But I also want to get this right. And so, we are trying to work as quickly and as diligently as we can,” he says.

Chatterjee’s focus on grid reliability includes the reality that as the grid has gotten smarter, it’s also become more vulnerable to cyber attacks.

“People sometimes squirm when I say this,” Chatterjee says, “but we’ve all got to focus on our cyber hygiene.”

Nuclear power

Amid climate change concerns, Chatterjee is vocal about nuclear power’s distinction as a source of carbon-free baseload generation.

“But in the same way that I can’t take into account the struggle of coal communities as I evaluate things, because the Federal Power Act doesn’t allow for it, I also can’t take the climate considerations regarding the shuttering of nuclear plants into my decision making. I’ve got to make decisions based on reliability, what our resilience docket shows, and those attributes.”

Regulatory and PURPA

With most Kentucky utilities regulated by the Kentucky Public Service Commission, Chatterjee was asked whether FERC and the PSC can continue to find common ground where there is regulatory overlap.

“I think cooperative federalism is incredibly important,” Chatterjee says, describing a good relationship with the PSC. “And it’s something that we strive to work toward every day.”

“We at (FERC), we actually don’t have a position on what is a superior model, competitive wholesale markets or regulated retail markets,” he says. “We just want to ensure that the lights come on and that customers are protected, and that electricity is delivered in a safe and clean way.”

The nation’s energy picture looked much different in 1978 when Congress passed the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA). The U.S. was concerned about running out of natural gas and renewable energy sources were in their infancy.

“I just think it’s time to bring PURPA into the 21st century and better align it with today’s marketplace,” Chatterjee says.

With a divided Congress unlikely to achieve any significant PURPA reform, Chatterjee says FERC may be able to implement some reform through the commission’s own regulations to better align PURPA for today’s market.

Electric cooperatives

The Lexington native’s energy expertise was honed as a staffer for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and as a key advocate with the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association.

“Because of the consumer-centric nature of electric co-ops, because of the focus on affordability and reliability, since my time working in the energy space, I have had an appreciation for maintaining that sort of four-legged stool of safety, environmental integrity, affordability and reliability.”

Legislators represent local consumer-members in key votes

Being a legislator can be a thankless job.

No matter how they vote or the many factors that affect their approach to an issue, Kentucky state lawmakers are often the targets of name-calling or worse, their very honor questioned as they grapple with challenging and complicated legislation.

As Kentucky Electric Cooperatives advocates on behalf of the more than 1.5 million Kentuckians who are served by electric co-ops, we understand the pressures lawmakers face and believe they deserve respect and appreciation for their public service.

Make no mistake, at times we are forceful in our arguments to protect the interests of the people we serve. We are proud to have earned the trust of elected leaders so that as we educate them on how policies affect co-ops’ ability to provide safe, reliable and affordable electricity, they know we are honest brokers of that information.

Yet, we need to say something else to lawmakers who take the time to hear us out, and who remember local co-op consumer-members when they cast their votes.

Thank you.

Thank you for standing up for co-ops when you vote to protect our ability to serve Kentucky. Thank you for understanding that each of Kentucky’s local electric cooperatives is locally owned and controlled by the consumer-members who are served by that local co-op. Thank you for realizing that your constituents are the same people who own and operate your local co-op, and that co-ops are uniquely suited to understand the hometowns they serve and advocate for them.

The Kentucky Electric Cooperatives 2019 Kentucky General Assembly Honor Roll salutes legislators who consistently supported electric cooperatives in Frankfort, including during sometimes contentious and difficult debates. See the list.

In particular, we would like to recognize the stewardship of the Senate and the House leaders: Senate President Robert Stivers and House Speaker David Osborne. Accepting the mantle of legislative leadership is more than a title; it involves a great deal of effort and discipline, and Kentucky’s legislative leaders exemplified those values.

In addition, the leaders of two key committees were effective and articulate defenders of co-op interests during the 2019 General Assembly. Thank you to Sen. Brandon Smith, chairman of the Senate Natural Resources and Energy Committee; and Rep. Jim Gooch, chairman of the House Natural Resources and Energy Committee. Both lawmakers stood up for co-ops when it mattered most.

Co-ops know cooperation when we see it. We work together to develop new technologies and infrastructure, learn from one another, and keep the power grid secure. When disasters strike, co-ops are always ready to lend a hand.

Thank you to elected leaders who stand up for co-ops and the local consumer-members we serve.

Healing life’s hurts

WINCHESTER

As a volunteer small group leader with Celebrate Recovery of Calvary Christian Church, Ken Bickham, a pricing analyst for East Kentucky Power Cooperative, headquartered in Winchester, knows that everyone experiences life’s hurts.

So, when Ken and his wife, Alisa, got to know Preston, above shown at right, they offered to let him live with them while he worked to get back on his feet financially because of a past addiction that he is in recovery from.

Preston is now working in a job that pertains to his college degree and he is giving back to the community through several different venues.

“It has been a joy to be a small part of someone’s journey,” Ken says.

Bee helpful

GRAY

Most know Ted Hampton as the president and CEO of Cumberland Valley Electric, Gray, where he is deeply involved in the Knox and Whitley County chambers of commerce and participates in the Tri-County Industrial Commission. His work for the co-op is designed to help the community grow and attract jobs.

Ted also has another job—that of beekeeper.

After a friend asked Ted to help him with his bees one day, Ted bought beehives and took up the trade himself. Soon his bees were producing 60-100 gallons of honey each year.

This is where you can’t tell CEO Ted from Beekeeper Ted. Hampton wanted his honey to help others just as his work at the co-op helps others. A young boy with asthma needed honey but couldn’t afford to buy it. Ted gave it to him. Older people in the community were in the same situation, and Ted provided honey to serve their needs.

“If you can help, you have to help,” Ted says.

Award was given in recognition of the 527,923 production hours worked by the employees at the plant without a lost-time incident   

FRANKFORT (April 15, 2019) – Danny E. Davis, Executive Advisor for the Kentucky Labor Cabinet’s Department of Workplace Standards, visited Big Rivers Electric Corporation – Wilson Station in Centertown, Kentucky to present a Governor’s Safety and Health Award.

The award was given in recognition of the 527,923 production hours worked by the employees at the plant without a lost-time incident at Wilson Station. Businesses and their employees earn this award for achieving outstanding safety and health records across the Commonwealth.

“I am pleased to recognize Big Rivers Electric Corporation – Wilson Station for their continued outstanding success in creating an environment of workplace safety and health,” said Labor Cabinet Secretary David Dickerson. “The issuance of yet another Governor’s Safety and Health award for Big Rivers, speaks directly to the dedication and achievement of Big Rivers’ hard-working men and women and their commitment to promoting a safe workplace. They set an example for the Commonwealth.”

Big Rivers Electric Corporation is an electric generation and transmission cooperative headquartered in Henderson, Kentucky. Big Rivers delivers retail electric power and energy to more than 116,000 residential, commercial, and industrial customers in portions of 22 western Kentucky counties. Big Rivers’ Wilson Station has been the recipient of the Governor’s Safety and Health Award on sixteen (16) separate occasions. This is the forty-ninth Governor’s Safety and Health Award given to Big Rivers overall.

“We are honored to receive our 49th Governor’s Safety award,” said Bob Berry, President and CEO of Big Rivers. “Each award is an affirmation that our workforce is dedicated to working safely, and we take great pride in having our efforts recognized by Governor Bevin.”

“Kentucky is committed to workplace safety and health,” added Secretary Dickerson. “It is always a good day in the Commonwealth when you get to witness the dedication of businesses toward the well-being and protection of their employees.”

For more information on the Governor’s Safety and Health Award, click here. Follow the Kentucky Labor Cabinet on Facebook and Twitter for all the latest updates