Kentucky Electric Cooperatives is pleased to unveil a new statewide outage map designed for timely and accurate updates to exclusively reflect co-op outages.
 
The statewide association has worked with the developer of PowerOutage.US collects, records, and aggregates live power outage data from utilities all over the United States, with the goal to create the single most reliable and complete source of power outage information available. To protect the privacy of the utility customers, PowerOutage.US does not collect or sell address or meter level data.
 
Because our previous co-op outage map relied on data from Kentucky Emergency Management and the Central United States Earthquake Consortium, it often reflected all outages in Kentucky counties, not just electric cooperatives. This new partnership with PowerOutage.US allows us to show only co-op outages.

In addition to a display of existing outages, the new map includes a graph of outages over the last 24 hours, specific per county and coop. Data is refreshed every 10 minutes. 
 
The outage map reflects the 23 local distribution cooperatives that have outage maps.

Dan Waddle, senior vice president of NRECA International, has been named to the Cooperative Hall of Fame by the Cooperative Development Foundation for his decades of leadership in bringing electricity to rural communities throughout the world.

The induction ceremony will take place Oct. 6 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. Waddle is one of four leaders from a variety of different types of co-ops to receive the honor for 2022.

“I’m touched by the actions of my colleagues and friends who nominated me and lobbied for this honor to be awarded to me,” Waddle said. “At the same time, I feel like this honor is really about the actions of the team that I’ve worked with for the past 30 years. I have a part in that team, but my colleagues have worked tirelessly and with as much dedication as me.”

Leaders of the nonprofit Cooperative Development Foundation said Waddle has used his knowledge and skills to help reduce poverty in developing nations. NRECA International has helped establish more than 250 electric utilities and electric co-ops in 48 countries.

“Under Dan’s leadership, NRECA International has implemented successful, sustainable, scalable rural electrification programs that improve education, health care, safety, and economic opportunities in communities across the world,” the foundation said in a statement announcing the honor.

“These cooperative ventures provide electric power to support agriculture, small and medium community enterprises, improved lighting and telecommunications for schools and health facilities, and for other public facilities including security lighting in village streets and common areas.”

Waddle and his colleagues have helped bring the benefits of the cooperative model to a host of nations, including Bangladesh, the Philippines, Costa Rica, Bolivia, Afghanistan, Uganda, Liberia, Yemen, South Sudan, Colombia and many more, the foundation noted.

“This recognition of Dan’s leadership of NRECA International and his personal commitment to global electrification is well deserved,” said NRECA CEO Jim Matheson. “He has led countless projects to bring safe, reliable and affordable electricity to communities around the globe. NRECA International has worked to bring electricity to more than 160 million people. Dan’s vision and enduring commitment has played a significant role in that success.”

Waddle said his three decades at NRECA International started out with what was supposed to be a brief one-year collaboration. After completing his doctorate degree in engineering at Texas A&M in 1987, Waddle went to work for Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, where he managed a series of renewable energy electrification projects in Latin America and Southeast Asia.

He accepted a one-year position with NRECA International to design and lead an electrification project in Bolivia and intended to return to the lab after that.

“The first year was eye-opening to me,” Waddle said. “The needs of the people, the team we attracted, and the quality of the work made me want to continue. I extended my contract for a second year and then a third and fourth. After four years, I said, ‘OK, this is where I want to be.’ I found that’s how I wanted to spend my professional life. It’s been enormously satisfying.”

Waddle officially joined NRECA International in 1991 and said that every year since has been filled with challenges and opportunities. He has seen electrification projects spur economic development in remote areas and change people’s lives for the better.

“These projects often require a leap of faith,” Waddle said. “You can’t bank on that. It’s remarkable to me to see that the vast majority of projects over the years have been quite successful. It doesn’t happen overnight; it’s gradual. But the long-term results have been striking.”

Erin Kelly is a staff writer for NRECA.

The Kentucky Chapter of Women in Rural Electrification (WIRE) is offering three $1,000 scholarships to Kentucky college students. 

The scholarships are open to any applicant who meets the following criteria:

• Student or student’s family must be served by a Kentucky rural electric cooperative
• Student must have completed at least 60 credit hours at the end of the 2021 Fall College Term
• Student must attend a Kentucky college or university

The scholarship application deadline is JUNE 14, 2022. Scholarship recipients will be notified in July. 

Scholarships will be awards based on academic achievements, extracurricular activities, career goals, recommendations from professors and community leaders, and financial need. 

Applications can be mailed to:

Mary Beth Dennis

c/o Kentucky Electric Cooperatives

P.O. Box 32170

Louisville, KY 40232

or emailed to mdennis@kyelectric.coop.

Kentucky electric cooperative mutual aid crews from Kenergy and Warren RECC are helping restore power to co-ops in Virginia after what is described as “a top five worst winter storm” on Sunday knocked out power to more than 100,000 co-op consumer-members in that state.
 
Kenergy sent three two-man crews and Warren sent four two-man crews, leaving Kentucky on Monday and beginning work on Tuesday. 
 
As of yesterday, the 13 electric cooperatives in Virginia had restored power to approximately 103,000 member accounts, down from the peak of more than 155,000. 
 
“We anticipate almost all co-op customers will have power by Friday evening,” the Virginia, Maryland & Delaware Association of Electric Cooperatives said. “Individual outages will persist through the weekend, as crews continue to cut through fallen trees and debris to locate outages. Upcoming inclement weather could also delay and complicate further restoration efforts, including for crews coming from out of state.”
 
More than 100 lineworkers from 40 cooperatives in four states joined hundreds of cooperative line crews and contractors in restoring power to affected areas. 
 
From Southside, Kenergy crews plan to transfer to Rappahannock Electric Cooperative, while Warren RECC crews are slated to help restore service at Northern Neck EC. 
 
The top priority of each local Kentucky co-op is service to its own consumer-members. Before committing resources to mutual aid requests, each co-op ensures it has ample crews available for all local needs, including routine maintenance and emergencies.
 
Because the national network of transmission and distribution infrastructure owned by electric cooperatives is built to federal standards, line crews from any co-op in America can arrive on the scene ready to provide emergency support, secure in their knowledge of the system’s engineering.

One month shy of his 81st birthday, Ted Hampton emerged from the offices of the southeastern Kentucky electric cooperative he has headed since 1964 to greet guests in the co-op lobby.

On this warm August day, he’d just completed his regular office-to-office check-in with Cumberland Valley Electric employees, turning his attention to visitors from United Utility Supply.

That an octogenarian is the full-time CEO of an electric utility is certainly remarkable. But for Hampton, it’s just the beginning of his story.

In mid-December of 2020, five days after being diagnosed with COVID-19, the stubbornly strong Brush Creek native buckled.

“His oxygen levels were alarmingly low,” Hampton’s wife, Margie, recalled. “After an ambulance rushed him to the ER, they put him on the ventilator immediately. The doctor came out and told me, ‘I don’t think he’s going to make it.’”

Margie sobbed as she relived her disbelief and the rush to airlift Ted 100 miles to Pikeville Medical Center because the Corbin hospital did not have any intensive care unit beds available.

Safety protocols prohibited hospital visitors.

When Margie was finally able to see Ted several weeks later, he had not made any progress and had reached the maximum length of time he could be intubated. Doctors asked Margie to make a critical decision. Should Ted remain on life support? If so, they would remove the tube threaded down his throat and replace it with one inserted into his trachea that would connect to a ventilator to keep pumping oxygen into his lungs. Would he want that?

Margie said Ted’s brother, Elbert Hampton, recalled a recent conversation he’d had with him.

“Ted said, ‘If I get this COVID, I am going to fight like hell, because I’ve got too much to live for,’” Margie said Elbert told her. “I said, ‘OK. That’s all I need to know.’”

She directed the hospital to put the trach tube in.

Margie said a prayer with their pastor, Paula Farmer, ended by “asking God to just go in the room and touch Ted on the shoulder.”

That night, after reading her Bible and saying her prayers, Margie dreamed she was in the hospital room with Ted, “and suddenly the Lord just appeared in the room.”

“I would explain it to you if I could. He just appeared in the room, and I sat down toward the foot of the bed, and He just came in and laid His hand on Ted’s shoulder,” Margie said. “I called my pastor the next day and told her about the dream. And I said, ‘He is going to be all right.’ And, not long after that, he started improving.”

After 41 harrowing days in Pikeville, Ted was transferred on Jan. 29 to the Rockcastle Regional Hospital and Respiratory Care Center. He was still relying on a ventilator but improving each day.

Forty-five days later, the trachea tube was removed. He was finally breathing without assistance for the first time in three months.

On March 31, after 103 days of hospitalization, Ted returned home, just in time to celebrate Easter at New Hope Ministries Church of God.

“When I walked into church, the pastor said, ‘We have a miracle boy with us today. Here comes Mr. Miracle. God has saved him for a purpose.’ And I agree with that,” Ted said. “Prayer is extremely important. And friendship. Friends at church and at work and acquaintances. Those are all important and give you encouragement.”

Within a week of coming home, he was back in the office.

A COVID-19 vaccine was not yet available when Ted caught the virus, but he’s encouraging co-op employees and their families to get the shots now.

“I want to tell everyone not to underestimate how dangerous [COVID-19] is,” Ted said. “They should step up and get the shots. If they don’t do it to protect themselves, then to protect their families and protect their neighbors and schoolchildren.”

Though he’s now back at work full time, he said he’s still weak and not at full strength.

“The doctor said it would take six months to a year to get back to where I was,” he said. “Normally … I would be going to the farm, driving a tractor, bush-hogging, taking care of my honeybees.”

He plans to be back on a tractor by springtime, with gratitude for those who cared for and prayed for him, and an urgency that Kentuckians take COVID-19 seriously.

“I just want to reemphasize that all parents should take those shots and the children should take those shots when they are eligible,” Ted concludes. “Life is too precious to waste.”

Story by Joe Arnold

Excerpt reprinted with permission from Kentucky Living magazine. The full version of this story can be found at the Kentucky Living website and will be reprinted in the March 2022 issue of RE Magazine.

Here are ways to help victims of the December tornadoes that devastated western Kentucky communities. 

Relief Funds

Team Kentucky Western Kentucky Tornado Relief Fund

Community Foundation of West Kentucky tornado relief fund

American Red Cross OR call 1-800-HELP NOW (1-800-435-7669)

United Way of Kentucky

Kentucky Agriculture Relief Fund

Kentucky Baptist Disaster Relief

Kentucky Sports Radio and Kentucky Chamber Foundation tornado relief fund

Blood Donation 

Red Cross

Kentucky Blood Center

Blood Assurance

Kentucky Electric Cooperatives spent the morning in Mayfield with West Kentucky RECC Communications and Media Relations Coordinator, Georgann Lookofsky.

Surrounded by debris, destruction and an uncertain future for the western Kentucky communities they call home, electric cooperative employees and mutual aid crews are focusing on power restoration after an unprecedented series of massive and deadly tornadoes Friday night, December 10, in what is described as the worst disaster in Kentucky history.

At least 74 people are confirmed dead in Kentucky, with numbers still expected to rise. According to Governor Andy Beshear, the death toll includes 20 in Graves County, 13 in Hopkins County, 11 in Muhlenberg County; 12 in Warren County; four in Caldwell County; one each in Marshall, Taylor, Fulton and Lyon counties. Of the dead, 18 are still unidentified.

The ages of those lost range from 5 months to 86 years, including six victims younger than 18. In addition, 105 people remain unaccounted for; and hundreds injured.

Among the dead is Kentucky District Judge Brian Crick who served McLean and Muhlenberg counties. Calculating the human toll has been complicated by spotty phone and internet service, so some people who may have survived may not be able to reach loved ones or authorities, or may not know that they are unaccounted.

Gov. Andy Beshear says thousands of homes are destroyed, in addition to countless more that are unlivable or seriously damaged. Hundreds of businesses, churches and government buildings are total losses.

The largest of four Kentucky tornadoes first touched down in Arkansas, gaining strength along a cold front as it moved into Missouri, Tennessee and Kentucky, pulverizing downtown Mayfield, a city of about 10,000, and ultimately plowing a 220 mile-long path through Princeton, Dawson Springs and other rural communities and as far east as Breckenridge County.

Another tornado killed 12 people and caused extensive damage in the Bowling Green area, including the destruction of approximately 500 homes and 100 businesses. Especially hard hit is the US-31 bypass area and several neighborhoods. A 100,000-square-foot warehouse in the Kentucky Transpark was leveled.

After Beshear declared a state of emergency and deployed the Kentucky National Guard on Saturday, President Joe Biden approved an emergency declaration, dispatching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Deanna Criswell to the commonwealth to assess the damage and recommend federal response. Biden is expected to visit Kentucky.

The declaration makes federal funding available to affected individuals in Caldwell, Fulton, Graves, Hopkins, Marshall, Muhlenberg, Taylor and Warren counties.

Criswell said FEMA teams are prioritizing finding housing for people displaced in the disaster. Kentucky State Parks is housing some people from Dawson Springs.

From a high of more than 80,000 consumer-members who lost power when four tornadoes shredded everything in their paths, crews had restored service to all but about 16,000 members as of Monday morning. “It appears that work is really moving,” Beshear said.

Though western Kentucky bore the brunt of the disaster, co-ops all across the commonwealth worked to restore power from the December storms. The co-op mutual aid system saw crews helping fellow co-ops in every region.

In addition to an estimated 1,000 co-op distribution poles snapped in the tornadoes, the Tennessee Valley Authority reports approximately 100 TVA power structures (towers and poles) were damaged or destroyed, 29 TVA transmission lines were down and more than 20 customer connection points lost service, mainly in Kentucky.

In Ohio County, Big Rivers Electric worked with Kenergy Corp, to restore power in the southern portion of the co-op’s service territory.

The number of co-ops offering assistance surpassed the capacity to receive them. At West Kentucky RECC, mutual aid crews from Jackson Purchase Energy, Tombigbee Electric (Mississippi), Shelby Energy, Licking Valley RECC, Cumberland Valley Electric, South Kentucky RECC, Blue Grass Energy and Salt River Electric are assisting. Historic downtown Mayfield, about a mile from the co-op headquarters, resembled a war zone, the county courthouse steeple sheared off and landmarks and businesses in rubble.

“We are also focusing on maximizing available power sources to serve as many members as possible,” said Georgann Lookofsky of WKRECC. “That’s why we have asked Graves County residents who do have service to conserve power whenever possible. The conservation efforts are paying off–we’ve seen usage drop, which allows us to return service to more members.”

Substations serving the Mayfield area and northern Graves County were still without TVA power on Monday. Meanwhile, WKRECC’s operations center sustained damage and the co-op’s communications systems have been hampered, including the phone system and the website outage map.

At Warren RECC, crews from Fleming Mason Energy, Tri-County Electric, Owen Electric, Nolin RECC, Blue Grass Energy and Jackson Energy are on the scene.

In its service territory of the four westernmost counties in Kentucky and eight northwestern Tennessee counties, Gibson EMC reported 26 outage locations and about 4,000 member homes and businesses without power.

“The tornadoes left broken poles on every road they crossed from the Mississippi River to the eastern boundary of our service area,” said Barry Smith, Gibson EMC VP of Engineering and Operations. “The damage amounts to hundreds of broken poles.”

“Even with all of Gibson EMC’s lineworkers and lineworkers from Pickwick Electric, Milan Public Utilities, Jackson Energy Authority, Forked Deer Electric Cooperative, Chickasaw Electric Cooperative and Service Electric, repairing the monumental damage is a painfully slow process,” said Dan Rodamaker, President and CEO of Gibson EMC and Gibson Connect. “We know how very difficult a lengthy outage is for our members and we are pushing hard to restore electric and internet service as quickly as we safely can.”

At Pennyrile Rural Electric, crews have been working around the clock since the storms passed Friday night.  As of Monday afternoon, about 2,600 members were without power in Christian, Todd, Logan and Trigg counties. Several of the damaged TVA transmission structures in this area are being rebuilt.

Churches, civic organizations and individuals have started supply drives collecting water, food, paper goods, pet food, blankets, gift cards and more.

Beshear urged Kentuckians who want to help to stay off the roads and leave room for first responders. Instead, he encouraged people to donate blood and cash donations to a fund “dedicated to helping the on-the-ground efforts going on right now and the relief efforts these families are going to need to rebuild.”

The Team Western Kentucky Tornado Relief Fund is live at TeamWKYReliefFund.ky.gov. https://secure.kentucky.gov/formservices/Finance/WKYRelief

According to the governor, the fund will provide $5,000 to each victim’s family for funeral expenses. There is no need to apply the state will be working to contact families. As of Monday, December 13, the fund has received 30,175 donations totaling $4,009,817.71.

“We’re grateful for the outpouring of support, of attention, of prayers from this country and from the world,” Beshear said. “It’s all we can ask for and it’s just pure love. One country united, worried about us.”

“What I hope they see is that we also love one another,” Beshear continued. “We are good people that care about one another. We open our homes, we open our businesses. As people get power on, they are reaching out to everybody else to invite them in.”

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (November 17, 2021) — Longtime agriculture leader David Beck, the president and CEO of Kentucky Venues and former head of the Kentucky Farm Bureau, was honored as the “2021 Distinguished Rural Kentuckian” at the 75^th Annual Meeting of Kentucky Electric Cooperatives. The award is the highest honor bestowed by Kentucky’s electric cooperatives, which consists of 26 co-ops across the commonwealth. 

Following a video tribute to Beck at the 75^th Annual Meeting Banquet of Kentucky Electric Cooperatives on Monday, November 15, the Lyon County native and distinguished Murray State University alumnus said he was humbled to be selected to join the illustrious list of past honorees. The tribute and speeches from the co-op meeting can be viewed on the YouTube channel of Kentucky Electric Cooperatives.

“As a young boy growing up at the end of a gravel road, you never know where life is going to take you,” Beck told the crowd of several hundred people from co-ops and invited guests, paying tribute to those who mentored him and gave him opportunities throughout his career. “True leadership is being able to cause people to believe in themselves and not just yourself.”

The cooperative meeting also included a keynote address by 2018 Distinguished Rural Kentuckian Warren Beeler, who shared both his passion for the progress, science and technology of Kentucky agriculture and life lessons on and off the farm. The keynote speaker at the association’s closing breakfast was former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Kelly Craft, who emphasized the importance of the proven reliability of the electric grid amid pressures to transition to less reliable sources of energy generation.

In his 41 years with the Kentucky Farm Bureau, including 23 years as its executive vice president and secretary of the Kentucky Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Company, Beck became a strong and reliable advocate for farmers and rural Kentucky interests. He played a key role in the passage of significant legislation, including:

• House Bill 44 in 1979 which secured low property tax rates in Kentucky, 
• The grain insurance bill approved by the Kentucky General Assembly in 1984 that protects farmers in the event of a grain elevator bankruptcy,
• In 1994, the Kentucky Agriculture Water Quality Act that protects surface and groundwater resources from pollution and protects farmers from over burdensome state environmental regulations. That legislation is still viewed as a model for other states and pushed Kentucky to the forefront in agriculture-related conversation.
• In 2000, the passage of the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement which led to the Kentucky Agricultural Development Board and Fund that have changed the face of agriculture in Kentucky and helped many farm families remain on the farm.

“David Beck’s dedication to improving the lives and livelihoods of Kentuckians echoes the mission of the commonwealth’s electric cooperatives and the purpose of this award,” said Chris Perry, president and CEO of Kentucky Electric Cooperatives. “David is a faithful ally of electric co-ops who have long appreciated his partnership and trust.”

The 75^th Annual Meeting also included highlights from the statewide association’s archives with photos and film from throughout Kentucky co-op history which dates to 1936 when the Rural Electrification Administration approved the first loan for a Kentucky co-op. At the time, only three percent of Kentucky farms had electric service. Over the next decade, local Kentuckians in rural communities created the co-ops that to this day are still locally owned and controlled, providing electric service to about 1.5 million Kentuckians in 117 of the commonwealth’s 120 counties. The statewide association was incorporated in 1943 and began operations in 1948, after the first Annual Meeting on June 22, 1947.

In his update to association membership, Perry explained that the goals of the association today remain consistent with those of its first president, J.K. Smith, who in 1948 laid out the plan to support, advocate and educate on behalf of member cooperatives. Perry emphasized recent investments in the statewide organization’s Safety and Loss Prevention team that works with co-ops on specific training and the promotion of a safety culture. The team also supports the mutual aid efforts of electric cooperatives which in 2021 included a massive response to back-to-back-to-back ice and snowstorms that required in many cases a rebuilding of the electric distribution system in hard hit areas of eastern Kentucky.

Perry also updated the association’s efforts to engage with elected leaders and regulators, providing solid facts on co-op operations and establishing trust on several pressing issues, including economic development, environmental stewardship and compliance, broadband deployment, and fair pole attachment rates and procedures. Perry moderated a panel discussion with the chairs of both the Senate and House Natural Resources and Energy Committee’s, Sen. Brandon Smith, and Rep. Jim Gooch. A separate panel discussion featured the majority floor leaders of both houses of the General Assembly, Sen. Damon Thayer and Rep. Steven Rudy.

Despite a strong financial report from the association and its United Utility Supply Cooperative, a leading material supply organizations serving the rural electric market in 17 states, Perry noted that the inflationary pressures and supply-chain disruptions being experienced across the country demand constant attention and are a concern. He was among several speakers to emphasize the need for effective and transparent communications with consumer-members and policymakers, citing the success of Kentucky Living magazine as a key resource and part of an expanding communications portfolio to convey co-op information and support economic development, safety and member education. As was in the case in 1948, the association continues to provide support for co-op annual meetings across the state.

Finally, Perry underscored the role of Kentucky’s electric cooperatives as the trusted energy advisors for local consumer-members as new technologies and standards emerge, such as the electric vehicle revolution and renewable energy issues. 

In her address to close out the meeting, Ambassador Craft stressed the importance of reliable electricity and cautioned that global carbon agreements threaten to undermine the reliability of both America’s electric grid and the aspirations of developing nations.

“You all know reality,” Craft told the co-op gathering. “And one reality that is as old as time is the following: you do not abandon what works and what you know works.”