Two of Christian County’s busy utility executives paid visit to the Hopkinsville Rotary Club Tuesday — shedding light on recent storm damages, the next chapter of broadband infrastructure, and other current concerns.
Pennyrile Electric President/CEO Alan Gates confirmed that the Memorial Day weekend storms were “a little deceiving,” and at the Sunday peak, roughly 28,000 of the 50,000-plus members were without power.
Damages, he said, are going to be north of $8 million — and that many local officials are still awaiting federal rulings on an emergency declaration, useful for potential FEMA reimbursements on cleanup and repairs.
Asked if wooden poles would always be on quick supply, and if underground infrastructure or steel poles were needed — especially near Pembroke — Gates had answers, noting the raising of rates should be avoided if possible.
HES General Manager Jeff Hurd said 5,000-to-6,000 customers dealt with a much shorter outage — around 24-to-30 hours near a main transmission line.
As for high-speed connectivity, Hurd added that HES has been celebrating 25 years of providing such services near and in Hopkinsville, and it’s now been more than six years since they and Pennyrile Electric first started having discussions about a south western Kentucky build-out of broadband.
Gates said by the end of the year, 100% of Christian Countians — outside of some served by KU — will be in the fiber footprint, and about 85% of the Pennyrile service umbrella will have a broadband option.
Gates further noted that the release of additional BEAD, or Broadband Equity Access and Deployment Program, grants should help clean up the remaining unserved and underserved customers — and with some new parameters.
This construction, Gates and Hurd said, should bring about one of the first-ever totally served regions in the Commonwealth.
Speaking of construction, Hurd clarified that while he didn’t know when Rural King would be ready in Christian County, efforts remain well underway on electricity services to the Fort Campbell Boulevard property.
Hurd also said the City of Hopkinsville is down to fewer than 150 purple LED street lamps — discovered as faulty devices long after installation.
Gates, meanwhile, said that while public electric vehicle charging stations are becoming more normalized across the Commonwealth, it’s home charging that’s has both Pennyrile and HES looking at unique solutions.
Hurd said, above all, electricity usage and demand continue to rise in the area.
