The Safety Committee of the Kentucky Electric Cooperatives has voted to recommend that the 2021 Lineman’s Rodeo be postponed because of ongoing concerns about the coronavirus pandemic and the ability to comply with safety restrictions. The full Board of Directors will hear the recommendation at…
Initiative encourages Kentuckians to spruce up local communities with beautification projects Gov. Andy Beshear and Kentucky Electric Cooperatives are encouraging Kentuckians to “Beautify the Bluegrass” for the fifth straight year by improving public spaces across the commonwealth. “Over the past year, we’ve seen Kentuckians come…
Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., says he knows that the big internet providers don’t always deliver when it comes to broadband access in rural America, but financial help from Congress is on the way. Warner brought that message to BARC Electric’s broadband subsidiary in the Shenandoah Valley…
Researchers at Colorado State University are predicting a more active hurricane season than normal this year for the Atlantic Basin with 17 named storms, including eight reaching hurricane strength and four developing into major hurricanes. But the early forecast falls short of last year’s unusually…
When electricity came to Cahess, Haiti, in 2013, Gimps Louis-Charles bought a DVD player and invited 40 people to his home to watch movies. “It was a happy moment for me and everyone in my community,” said Louis-Charles, 31, a contract groundworker for NRECA International at the…
President Joe Biden has announced a sweeping $2 trillion infrastructure and jobs plan that would affect electric cooperatives by increasing investment in broadband and electric vehicles, strengthening grid resiliency and dramatically reducing carbon dioxide emissions. A key provision would make not-for-profit electric co-ops eligible for…
Community Action Agencies across Kentucky have extended the enrollment period for the Crisis Component of the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). Applications for the Crisis Component will now be accepted through April 15, 2021, or until designated funds are depleted on a first-come, first-serve…
Though the concept of serving “the last mile” is often spoken in the relatively new challenge of delivering high-speed internet to rural Kentucky, electric cooperatives have embraced “the last mile” for generations, and to this day. Not-for-profit electric co-ops are led by, belong to and were…
Congress has approved a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill that could help struggling electric cooperative consumer-members pay their electric bills. The American Rescue Plan Act provides an additional $4.5 billion in emergency funding for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program. The money, available through September 2022, helps…
In a significant win for the electric cooperative program in Kentucky, the General Assembly approved legislation Tuesday that allows regulated electric cooperatives to add broadband service, and earmarks $250 million in federal funding to encourage broadband deployment in unserved and underserved areas. The bill now…
