Kentucky’s electric cooperatives urge Kentucky state senators to vote YES on Senate Bill 214, a net-metering bill.
Senate Bill 214 is a much needed measure to plan responsibly for future energy needs. The bill updates Kentucky law to responsibly grow renewable energy in Kentucky, while protecting utility customers and co-op members.
Co-ops believe it’s important for Kentuckians who want solar power to have access to it, but not at the expense of non-solar utility customers.
SB 214 supports the expansion of solar power in Kentucky but does not hurt Kentucky coal. We believe non-solar members shouldn’t be forced to subsidize people who want to use solar power. Under the legislation, the current cap on net-metering systems would be greatly expanded, from 30 kilowatts to 1,000 kilowatts – benefiting both companies looking to expand and residential customers. Existing net-metering participants will be grandfathered in under the current program.
Some companies that are considering moving to Kentucky want to have access to renewable energy. This bill helps that effort while protecting the local co-op member.
Kentucky’s electric cooperatives urge you to call the Legislative Message Line and leave a message for your senator today: 502-564-8100 or 1-800-372-7181 . Ask your senator to vote YES on SB 214. You can also e-mail legislators by clicking here.
Make plans to join us for this year’s SAIA meeting in June. The summer meeting is hosted by Kentucky Association of Electric Cooperatives and will be held at the Griffin Gate Marriott Resort & Spa in Lexington, Kentucky. The meeting will be held from Tuesday June 13 – Thursday June 15.
We also invite you to join us on Monday, June 12, for a golf outing at the Griffin Gate Golf Club or sign-up for our “Thoroughbred Experience” outing. Please be sure to indicate on the registration form your selection(s) and if you plan to attend the welcoming reception on Monday evening, June 12, beginning at 5pm. You will not want to miss the Master Distiller presentation with tastings, as well as live Bluegrass band entertainment during the reception.
The Griffin Gate Marriott Resort & Spa rate of $154.00 per night will only be held until May 26, 2017 (see registration packet for details). Registration fees for this conference will be a very reasonable $375 per person.
On behalf of the SAIA Board and KAEC, we hope to see you in June!
Officials with Jackson Purchase Energy Corporation are grieved to acknowledge the death of JPEC Line Technician Josh Franklin.
Franklin passed away at 12:30 p.m. January 16 at Vanderbilt University Hospital in Nashville, according to family members, who authorized JPEC to release the information.
“There are simply no words to adequately convey the profound sadness of our cooperative family,” says Dennis Cannon, President and CEO.
“Our hearts ache for Josh and his family. We pray that they experience the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, as they endure this most difficult of times.
“Our focus remains on Josh’s wife Christa, their two children and all of Josh’s family and friends as we begin the long process of saying goodbye to him,” Cannon says.
After coming into contact with a live electric line during a routine maintenance call, Franklin was treated at Lourdes Hospital in Paducah before being transported via LifeFlight to Vanderbilt University Hospital where he was treated for various injuries until his death.
Franklin’s coworkers, in close coordination with his family, established two fundraising methods to aid his family. Those will continue to be used to supplement any monies that the family may receive from Jackson Purchase Energy’s workers compensation insurance carrier.
Those interested in donating to those funds may do so using one of the following two methods:
The primary method is the Joshua Franklin Beneficiary Account established at Regions Bank: Joshua Franklin Beneficiary Account, Regions Bank, 4111 Clarks River Road, Paducah, KY 42003.
Robert Thornton becomes a Certified Loss Control Professional
Kentucky Association of Electric Cooperatives Safety Instructor Robert Thornton has completed an intensive program in electric utility safety and loss control. The Loss Control Internship is a series of workshops offered by the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association in conjunction with the National Utility Training & Safety Education Association. The program is designed to instruct participants in many areas related to electric utility industry safety.
According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, nearly 4 million injuries occur annually in the workplace. One of the goals of a Certified Loss Control Professional is to help ensure a safe work environment for utility workers and the public in general. Avoiding workplace accidents avoids down time and can ultimately lead to lower utility rates.
Robert Thornton is one of only a few electric utility professionals in the country that will receive this certification this year. The program requires participants to complete a rigorous serious of seminars and tests, a 30 hour OSHA course, and a detailed final course project.
Loss Control participants go through four, 6-day sessions that are designed to challenge and educate participants in new, innovative safety techniques. Participants must also maintain their certificate by attending courses every year in order to stay on top of changes in the industry.
Thornton has been with KAEC for five years. He graduated with a degree in Occupational Safety and Health from Murray State University. He and his wife, Katie, live in Elizabethtown.
Big Rivers Electric Corporation announced the Kentucky Public Service Commission’s (PSC) approval of a ten-year power supply contract with the Kentucky Municipal Energy Agency (KyMEA). Under the agreement signed earlier this year, Big Rivers will provide 100 megawatts (MW) beginning in June of 2019. The supply could also be expanded by an additional 50 MW later in the contract term.
In the order, the PSC stated that “revenues from the proposed agreement should generate margins that would defray fixed costs that would otherwise be shouldered by Big Rivers’ native load customers.”
“We’re excited to finalize an agreement that benefits Big Rivers, our Member-Owners, and the KyMEA,” said Big Rivers President and CEO Bob Berry. “It’s another positive step toward locating long-term buyers for our surplus power, and our low costs and high reliability made us favorable during the KyMEA selection process. This contract will help stabilize power prices and ensure competitive rates for members of Kenergy, Jackson Purchase Energy Corporation and Meade County RECC.”
KyMEA is an Inter-local Cooperation Agency representing city-owned utilities in Kentucky that terminated their long-term power supply arrangements with Kentucky Utilities Company or other Kentucky municipally-owned electric utilities. Members of this KyMEA contract include the cities of Barbourville, Bardwell, Benham, Corbin, Falmouth, Frankfort, Madisonville, Paris, and Providence. While Owensboro Municipal Utilities (OMU) is also a KyMEA member, OMU will not initially be an all-requirements participant and will not be a recipient of any of the capacity and energy provided under the Big Rivers contract.
In addition to the agreements with Big Rivers, the KyMEA entered into power supply contracts with the Illinois Power Marketing Company, a subsidiary of Dynegy, and the Electric Plant Board of the City of Paducah.
Big Rivers Electric Corporation is an electric generation and transmission cooperative headquartered in Henderson, Kentucky and owned by three distribution cooperative members—Jackson Purchase Energy Corporation, headquartered in Paducah; Kenergy Corp, headquartered in Henderson; and Meade County Rural Electric Cooperative Corporation, headquartered in Brandenburg. These member cooperatives deliver retail electric power and energy to more than 115,000 residential, commercial, and industrial customers in portions of 22 western Kentucky counties.
Starting in 2017, electric cooperative members will be able to license solar panels for their home or business from a solar farm located in Clark County, Ky.
Next spring, East Kentucky Power Cooperative (EKPC) will begin installing 32,300 solar panels on 60 acres of the property at its headquarters facility, adjacent to Interstate 64 east of Lexington. The solar farm, one of the largest in Kentucky, is expected to begin generating electricity later in 2017.
EKPC and its 16 owner-member electric cooperatives, known collectively as Kentucky’s Touchstone Energy Cooperatives, plan to license solar panels to co-op members, who will receive credit on their electric bills for their share of energy produced. The arrangement is known as Cooperative Solar.
With a one-time payment of $460 per panel, participants will receive the benefits of renewable energy for the next 25 years without having to install or maintain facilities on their own property. Their monthly electric bills will be credited for the value of the energy and capacity associated with their licensed share of the solar farm.
“For electric co-op members who are interested in harnessing renewable energy for their home or business, Cooperative Solar is the easy, affordable option,” said Anthony “Tony” Campbell, EKPC’s president and CEO. Installing and maintaining a large number of panels in one location helps keep costs below that of most private solar installations.
Campbell noted that co-op members have requested such an option. In addition, the solar facility will help EKPC diversify its generating sources, which is a strategic goal of the cooperative.
Before EKPC’s 16 owner-member cooperatives can sell Cooperative Solar licenses, the Kentucky Public Service Commission (PSC) must approve tariffs under which the transactions can take place. It is expected the co-ops will begin selling 25-year licenses in the next several months.
Development of the solar farm project was approved last week by the PSC. Construction of the solar farm is estimated to cost $17.7 million. EKPC plans to finance the project by issuing New Clean Renewable Energy Bonds to take advantage of federal incentives that can offset much of the interest expense.
EKPC’s 16 owner-member electric cooperatives are:
· Big Sandy RECC, Paintsville, Ky.
· Blue Grass Energy, Nicholasville, Ky.
· Clark Energy Cooperative, Winchester, Ky.
· Cumberland Valley Electric, Gray, Ky.
· Farmers RECC, Glasgow, Ky.
· Fleming-Mason Energy, Flemingsburg, Ky.
· Grayson RECC, Grayson, Ky.
· Inter-County Energy Cooperative, Danville, Ky.
· Jackson Energy Cooperative, McKee, Ky.
· Licking Valley RECC, West Liberty, Ky.
· Nolin RECC, Elizabethtown, Ky.
· Owen Electric Cooperative, Owenton, Ky.
· Salt River Electric, Bardstown, Ky.
· Shelby Energy Cooperative, Shelbyville, Ky.
· South Kentucky RECC, Somerset Ky.
· Taylor County RECC, Campbellsville, Ky.
Since 1989, the Kentucky Chapter of Women in Rural Electrification (WIRE) has offered college scholarships to Kentucky college students to help them finish their degree. WIRE is now taking 2017 applications for three $1,000 scholarships.
WIRE scholarships are open to any eligible student whose family is served by a Kentucky electric cooperative and has at least 60 hours of credit at a Kentucky college or university by the start of the fall term. (Electric cooperative employees, directors, managers, and their relatives, and those of Big Rivers Electric Corporation, East Kentucky Power Cooperative, and the Kentucky Association of Electric Cooperatives, are not eligible.)
One of 2016’s recipients, Spencer Bolton, says his WIRE scholarship was especially appreciated since this scholarship benefits rural people. “I’m from London, Kentucky,” says Spencer, “and it’s great this scholarship is directed toward rural communities to help those pursue an education.”
Spencer heard about the WIRE scholarships at Sullivan University where he is pursuing a dual degree by completing an MBA program as well as a graduate/doctorate program in the College of Pharmacy. Spencer wants to hopefully become more of a clinical pharmacist in a hospital and go back to an underserved rural area that could use more health care professionals. His family is a member of Jackson Energy electric cooperative.
WIRE is an organization of women associated with Kentucky electric cooperatives. Members are wives of cooperative managers, board members, employees, employees themselves, and other women associated with electric co-ops in Kentucky. A yearly fundraising event is held in November with all proceeds going to the WIRE college scholarship program. Over the past 27 years, WIRE has given more than $94,000 in Kentucky college scholarships.
Annual award bestowed by Kentucky’s electric cooperatives
Congressman Ed Whitfield, who represented Kentucky’s First Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives for nearly 22 years, has been honored as the 2016 “Distinguished Rural Kentuckian” by the Kentucky Association of Electric Cooperatives (KAEC).
Whitfield received the award at KAEC’s annual meeting on Monday, November 14, in Louisville. He is the 33rd recipient. Previous Distinguished Rural Kentuckians include elected leaders, authors, journalists, business executives, physicians, and sports champions. The award recognizes outstanding individuals who have devoted their lives to Kentucky in a way that matches the co-op mission of enhancing the quality of life here.
“When you reflect on people from Kentucky who’ve received it in the past, and they’re all sort of well-known and accomplished so much, it’s kind of a humbling experience and one that I was surprised at and grateful for, but also unexpected,” Whitfield said.
“Ed Whitfield is a true friend of Kentucky and of Kentucky’s electric cooperatives,” said Chris Perry, president and CEO of KAEC. “His understanding of and prioritizing the needs of rural Americans regardless of party politics are an example for all elected leaders.”
A native of Hopkinsville, Kentucky, Whitfield was elected to Congress in 1994, serving until his retirement in September, 2016. The Republican’s 11 terms in the House were highlighted by his chairmanships of the Oversight and Investigation Subcommittee, and the Energy and Power Subcommittee.
“He held the reins,” said U.S. Rep. Fred Upton (Mich), the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. “We trusted him to push through a whole number of different pieces of legislation.”
“He became a great advocate for the electric co-op community because he understood the importance of the electric co-ops to his own constituents,” said Jim Matheson, president of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) and a former fellow congressman. “It’s a great example of how our grassroots network works across the country.”
As Chair of the Energy and Power Subcommittee, Whitfield led oversight efforts of what he characterized as “an overly aggressive executive branch,” working to balance the need of cleaner energy with the need of protecting American jobs and keeping the United States competitive in the global marketplace.
Bob Berry, President and CEO of Big Rivers Electric Corporation which serves much of the First District, complimented Whitfield’s “very reasonable” approach to environmental regulations.
“(Whitfield is) very knowledgeable about the industry and understands the industry and the impact that it has not only on the industry but on all the individuals in the state of Kentucky,” Berry said.
“Ed Whitfield has meant stability for Pennyrile Electric,” said Greg Grissom, the electric cooperative’s president. “He’s meant stability for the cooperative program. And he’s always been a strong ally for the cooperative program in Kentucky.”
Grissom points to Whitfield bucking his own party leaders to oppose energy deregulation in the 1990’s.
“It threatened our existence, it threatened our grassroots fundamental values,” Grissom explained. “And, Congressman Whitfield recognized that early on and was an ally from start to finish.”
Working with other members of Congress, Whitfield’s legislative accomplishments include designating the Land Between the Lakes as a National Forest, establishing a workers compensation program for workers at both Paducah’s Gaseous Diffusion Plant and the Department of Energy nationally, a prescription drug monitoring system, the first Medicare Prescription Drug benefit plan for seniors, and introducing the first bill to pass the House to abolish the slaughter of horses in America.
“He worked with us greatly on our Fort Campbell relationship,” said Eston Glover, former Pennyrile Electric President. “We were in limbo about losing a large part of the base, a part of the soldiers on base, and we had a strong battle to keep that base alive and keep it intact. He was a strong force and he was in a position that he could be a strong force.”
“I’d like to thank the constituents of the First District of Kentucky for giving me the opportunity to represent them in the U.S. Congress. It’s been a great honor,” Whitfield said. “You can’t represent people without being involved in their day to day struggles with the issues that they deal with, and I don’t think anybody can serve in public life without becoming a little bit more sensitive to the needs of the people. So, I want to thank them for their support, their dedication and their commitment and for allowing me to represent them.”
Whitfield’s wife, Connie, was formerly a director of the Export-Import Bank, Assistant Secretary of Interior for Fish, Wildlife and National Parks, and Justice Department attorney.
“Connie worked very hard with me throughout the whole time,” Whitfield said. “She has been instrumental and very much involved.”
A graduate of the University of Kentucky and UK Law School, Whitfield was practicing law in when he was elected to one term in the Kentucky House of Representatives in 1973. He also headed his family’s oil distributorship in Hopkinsville, and served as counsel to the president of Seaboard System Railroad and later as a lobbyist to CSX. He was working as an attorney adviser to the Chairman of the Interstate Commerce Commission when he decided to run for Congress in 1994.
“The first day I encountered him, the first time we had a conversation, from that point until he retired from Congress, Congressman Whitfield, Ed Whitfield is the same person,” said Michael Pape, Whitfield’s long time District Director. “In his values, in his persona. People sometimes say ‘Don’t get into politics because it will change you, you won’t be the same person once you come out.’ The one thing I’ve noticed about Ed Whitfield is that he’s the same person, with more wisdom now, but the same person, the same values, the same type of person that said ‘I can make a difference’ when he went into office and when he came out of office.”
View the 2016 Distinguished Rural Kentuckian tribute video:
Confronted with daunting challenges in drawing employers to rural areas, Kentucky’s Touchstone Energy Cooperatives called in some high-tech air support in the form of aerial drones.
Those drones are used to capture video fly-by footage of prospective commercial/industrial sites. They also use high-tech tools to precisely map the topography, landmarks and boundaries of the sites.
The resulting data-rich videos quickly provide valuable information to site selectors who help companies and industries find ideal locations to build new facilities.
“We are using high-tech tools to take the site to the selectors virtually, providing detailed data about the site,” said Rodney Hitch, economic development manager for Kentucky’s Touchstone Energy Cooperatives. “We can even show them a computer-generated flyover of what the site could look like with their facility located there.”
The co-ops have developed videos for 17 sites in Kentucky, so far, with more to come in the future. The videos are available at www.DataIsPower.org or through the PowerMap app.
The videos also are provided to economic developers around the state and are linked to community profiles on StateBook, a leading online platform with a searchable database used by many site selectors.
And it has already paid off. One site-selection professional presented a video of an industrial site in rural Kentucky to the client in Asia, clenching the deal for the Bluegrass State.
The initiative, dubbed PowerVision, is revolutionizing the way rural economic developers pitch sites for commercial and industrial developments.
It is often challenging to coax site selectors away from large cities, especially to locations several hours from airports. But rural Kentucky often has exactly what those site selectors are looking for: low-cost land, access to transportation networks, competitive utility rates and a trained workforce.
It is often challenging to coax site selectors away from large cities, especially to locations several hours from airports. But rural Kentucky often has exactly what those site selectors are looking for: low-cost land, access to transportation networks, competitive utility rates and a trained workforce.
A year ago, economic development experts for Kentucky’s Touchstone Energy Cooperatives brainstormed ways to help rural Kentucky stand out from the crowd.
“We were already making vast improvements in the way we use data and technology to showcase rural Kentucky, with our partnership with StateBook and development of the PowerMap app,” said Brad Thomas, associate manager of economic development for Kentucky’s Touchstone Energy Cooperatives. “PowerVision builds on both of those efforts.”
With assistance from Kentucky’s Touchstone Energy Cooperatives, Statebook now features profiles of all 87 counties served by the co-ops. And PowerMap is a powerful tool that provides precise GPS mapping of co-ops’ electric service territories that brings all this technology to the palm of your hand.
The addition of the PowerVision videos provides richly textured information, helping ensure prospective industries are comfortable they are making the right investment decision.
“We are helping our communities make the very best impression they can, because it means jobs and investment for Kentucky,” Hitch said. More information: To see videos produced for PowerVision and to learn more about the economic development efforts of Kentucky’s Touchstone Energy Cooperatives, visit www.DataIsPower.org or download PowerMap from the iTunes or Google Play stores on your mobile device.
Cumberland Valley CEO Ted Hampton received the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association’s Regional Service Award October 26 during the Region III meeting. Mr. Hampton is one of the longest-serving electric co-op leaders in the United States. He holds the record as the longest-serving distribution system manager in Kentucky’s electric cooperative history.
“My career has afforded me the opportunity to meet many electric cooperative leaders, and I would put Mr. Hampton in the elite class of these cooperative leaders,” said East Kentucky Power Cooperative CEO Tony Campbell, who nominated Mr. Hampton and attended the award ceremony. “Over the past eight years, Mr. Hampton has been gracious enough to spend a significant amount of his time mentoring me, and I believe his coaching has made me a much more effective leader.”
Watch a video of Mr. Hampton receiving his Regional Service Award.
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