Questions and Answers

Cooperatives

Q. What is Kenergy?
A. Kenergy is the electric distribution cooperative formed in July 1999 through the consolidation of Green River Electric Corporation and Henderson Union Electric Cooperative Corporation. It serves in excess of 51,000 households, commercial enterprises and industries along more than 6,700 miles of line in all or portions of 14 western Kentucky counties - Breckinridge, Caldwell, Crittenden, Daviess, Hancock, Henderson, Hopkins, Livingston, Lyon, McLean, Muhlenberg, Ohio, Union and Webster.

Q. What is an electric distribution cooperative?
A. A distribution cooperative is a not-for-profit, customer-owned electric company which purchases electric power at wholesale and distributes it to customers within its service territory. Its profits-or margins-are put back into the cooperative to help run the business efficiently or are returned to the customer-owners (see Capital Credits). A cooperative exists solely to provide high quality service at the lowest possible price.

Q. What is a generation cooperative?
A. A generation cooperative produces electric power and supplies it at wholesale to transmission cooperatives for resale to distribution cooperatives. Often generation cooperatives are both generation and transmission (G&T) cooperatives.

Q. What is a transmission cooperative?
A. Transmission cooperatives, while operated separately, are owned by the one or more distribution cooperatives they serve and transmit power at wholesale rates to them for distribution to customers.

Q. What companies generate and transmit the electric power distributed by Kenergy?
A. Big Rivers Electric Corporation (BREC) in Henderson, KY is the transmission cooperative owned by Kenergy, Jackson Purchase Energy Corporation in Paducah, KY and Meade County Rural Electric Cooperative Corporation in Brandenburg, KY. Through a 25-year agreement with BREC, Henderson-based Western Kentucky Energy (WKE) leases and operates the BREC-owned power generation plants from which most of the power distributed by Kenergy is produced. WKE is a subsidiary of LG&E Energy, which is owned by PowerGen. Kenergy also distributes electricity supplied by LG&E Marketing, Inc., SIGECO and Cinergy.

Q. What are the basic differences among electric utilities?
A. The three types of utilities are: cooperatives, investor-owned and municipal. An investor-owned utility (IOU) is owned by stockholders who may or may not be customers and who may or may not live in the utility's service territory. The IOU is a for-profit company. Municipal systems are usually owned by a city, state or federal government agency. Municipals usually are located in urban areas and serve those within that area.

Q. What is Touchstone Energy®?
A. Touchstone Energy® is a network of local, customer-owned electric cooperatives throughout the country, which are committed to providing superior service at affordable rates to all customers large and small. Those cooperatives involved have a reputation for integrity, accountability, innovation and community service.

Reporting an Outage

Q. How do I report an outage?
A. Kenergy's 14-county service territory essentially is divided into two (2) areas. If you reside in Breckinridge, Daviess, Hopkins, Hancock, McLean, Ohio, Muhlenberg counties or the eastern section of Webster County, call the Owensboro Dispatcher Center at (270) 926-4141 or 1-800-844-4732. If you reside in Henderson, Crittenden, Caldwell, Livingston, Lyon, Union, or in the western section of Webster County, call the Henderson Dispatch Center at (270) 826-3991 or 1-800-844-4832. Both Dispatch Centers are manned 24 hours a day, everyday.

Q. How are outage calls handled?
A. When calling the Dispatch Center to report an outage, your call will be answered by center personnel a majority of the time. However, during major outage affecting hundreds of customers, Kenergy uses state-of-the-art automated call-handling equipment to respond faster and more efficiently. The equipment is capable of answering 600-plus calls per hour and obtaining all information needed from the caller in a matter of seconds. When the equipment is utilized, you will be asked to use the keypad on your touch-tone phone to enter the telephone number of the location where the outage has occurred. If you have a rotary phone, please leave a voice mail message after the tone.

Q. Why is it important that Kenergy have my phone number during an outage?
A. The automated outage call-handling equipment has been programmed to use the phone number to identify the location of your home or business. For this reason, it is VITAL for Kenergy to have your correct phone number. If your phone number changes, please provide the new number to the cooperative immediately. Your service phone number is printed on your monthly statement. For best service to you, be sure it is correct.

Q. What should I do first if my electric power is interrupted?
A. Before calling to report a power outage, first check the fuses and/or breaker switch in your service panel. If fuses or breakers are okay, check with your neighbors to determine if they are experiencing an outage. If you believe the trouble is not in your equipment/wiring, report the problem to the cooperative.

Q. What causes my lights to blink?
A. A temporary blink actually means that devices (called circuit reclosers) used by cooperatives to protect the system are operating properly. When the recloser senses a disturbance, such as a bird or small animal on the line, a tree limb touching the line or lightning, etc. it automatically and instantaneously opens and closes (trips) up to three times before stopping the flow of electricity. If the disturbance is no longer present following a trip, electricity continues to flow.

Service Charges and Fees

Q. Does Kenergy charge to perform certain services or tasks?
A. Yes. The following charges and fees, which have no effect on electric rates, represent the cost incurred by Kenergy to perform certain services or tasks. Only those customers requiring the service/task pay the fee. (Subject to change without notice.)

$10 for processing a returned or bank-dishonored check.
$30 for connecting seasonal or temporary service during normal business hours. ($80 if connected after normal business hours.)
$30 per trip made during normal business hours to disconnect electric service for reason of nonpayment or violation of Kenergy's rules and regulations or to reconnect service which has been disconnected for one of the aforementioned reasons. ($80 if disconnect/reconnect service is performed after normal business hours.)
$30 when a customer requests that his meter be reread and the second reading shows the original reading was correct.
$30 to obtain a meter reading after three (3) consecutive months of estimation.
$45 when, at the request of the customer, Kenergy tests a meter for accuracy and that test proves the meter to be accurate within Kentucky Public Service Commission-dictated standards.

Termination of Service

Q. Can Kenergy refuse to provide electric service to a customer?
A. You have the right to electric service, provided that you (or a member of your household whose debt was accumulated at your address) are not indebted to the utility. Additionally, in accordance with state law, Kenergy is authorized to discontinue or refuse service for the following reasons:

Noncompliance with Kenergy rules and regulations.
Refusal or neglect by the customer to provide reasonable access.
Nonpayment of bills.
When a dangerous condition is found to exist on the customer's premises.
Fraudulent or illegal use of electric service.

Capital Credits

Q. What are capital credits?
A. As a not-for-profit cooperative, Kenergy is required annually to allocate any surplus in funds to special capital credits accounts established for each customer. When the disbursement of the funds will not financially impair the cooperative, the money is refunded by check. Each customer is credited for the capital he supplied during the year or years for which refunds are being issued. In the meantime, the money is used to provide the cooperative with adequate cash flow for reinvestment in the utility and to maintain financial stability.

Related Agencies and Laws

Q. What is the Kentucky Public Service Commission (PSC)?
A. The PSC is a three-member administrative body with quasi-legislative and quasi-judicial duties and powers involving regulation of utilities in the state. Its mission is to provide a healthy regulatory environment so that the utilities under its authority can safely provide quality services at reasonable rates.

Q. What is the Rural Utilities Service?
A. The Rural Utilities Service (RUS)-once known as the Rural Electrification Administration (REA)-is the lending agency for rural electric cooperatives. It is a part of the US Department of Agriculture and neither owns nor operates any electric cooperative.

Q. What is the electric utility territorial law?
A. The law adopted in 1972 by the Kentucky legislature, established parameters for the service areas for Kentucky's electric cooperatives and investor-owned utilities. It grants the exclusive right of a given utility to serve customers within its service territory.

Preventive Maintenance

Q. Why does the cooperative cut trees?
A. Trees and/or tree limbs growing too close to power lines can fall during storms and break utility lines; thereby, causing an outage.

Q. Where should I plant trees to avoid branches becoming entangled in power lines?
A. Taller trees, such as maples, oaks, spruces and pines, should be planted at a distance of 50 feet or more from overhead utility lines to avoid high branches overhanging the line or toppling into the line during storms. If you must plant trees within 20 feet to either side of power lines, plant species that will not exceed 25 feet in height, such as redbuds and dogwoods.