FRANKFORT, KY: July 3, 2012 – Kentucky Power continues efforts to assess damage and restore power to about 12,250 customers following severe weather that struck its service territory Friday and Sunday nights. At the height of outage cases (Friday), more than 63,800 customers lost service due to the storms. Kentucky has brought more than 500 outside utility workers to assist in restoration efforts.  Outages have been reduced 80 percent since their height last Friday.

Damage was widespread and substantial across the company’s service area, with Boyd, Carter, Floyd, Greenup, Lawrence and Pike counties sustaining the worst damage and consequently the most power outages. Among the damage are broken utility poles, spans of downed power line, broken or damaged cross arm structures, and tree-related contact damage.

Restoration Notes

Company officials caution outage numbers are still fluid and can change. The storms can continue to manifest themselves for days. Further bad weather can add to the outage count and slow restoration efforts.

Approximately 70 percent of the customers who lost power Friday night had been restored Sunday evening. Sunday night’s storm caused more than 25,000 additional outage cases, knocking out power to many customers who had previously seen their service returned and setting back the restoration effort.

Downed power lines continue to be a concern and company officials caution eastern Kentucky residents to never approach downed power lines or wires of any type. No matter how harmless a downed wire may appear it should be considered energized and dangerous. Report all downed power lines to Kentucky Power at (800) 572-1113 or notify local emergency or law enforcement officials immediately.  Never approach or touch anything that comes in contact with a downed power line.

Due to the extensive number of outage cases across Kentucky Power and the AEP System, customers may see delays in reaching our Solution Center to report power outages. Please be patient in reaching a customer service representative or use the automated service available or kentuckypower.com to report outages.

Outage Numbers and Restoration Estimates

As of 3:00 p.m. today, the following outage numbers and restoration information was estimated by the company.

Kentucky Power does not serve all residents of the counties listed.  Many are served by other utilities.

*Note:  Near total restoration estimate. Estimates are subject to change given work progress. Most customers will be returned to service well before the time/date indicated.

PLEASE NOTE: 

Customers and media representatives can track current power outages in their area by going to www.kentuckypower.com and clicking on the “Kentucky June 29 Severe Summer Storm” link in the red box at the top of the page.  To see a list of power outages by county, click the “Outages & Problems” tab, then the “view outage map.” The outage map site is updated continuously.  

Kentucky Power is an operating unit of American Electric Power and provides electricity to approximately 173,000 customers in all or parts of 20 Eastern Kentucky counties.

American Electric Power is one of the largest electric utilities in the United States, delivering electricity to more than 5 million customers in 11 states. AEP ranks among the nation’s largest generators of electricity, owning nearly 38,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the U.S. AEP also owns the nation’s largest electricity transmission system, a nearly 39,000-mile network that includes more 765 kilovolt extra-high voltage transmission lines than all other U.S. transmission systems combined. AEP’s transmission system directly or indirectly serves about 10 percent of the electricity demand in the Eastern Interconnection, the interconnected transmission system that covers 38 eastern and central U.S. states and eastern Canada, and approximately 11 percent of the electricity demand in ERCOT, the transmission system that covers much of Texas. AEP’s utility units operate as AEP Ohio, AEP Texas, Appalachian Power (in Virginia and West Virginia), AEP Appalachian Power (in Tennessee), Indiana Michigan Power, Kentucky Power, Public Service Company of Oklahoma, and Southwestern Electric Power Company (in Arkansas, Louisiana and east Texas). AEP’s headquarters are in Columbus, Ohio.

###