Current Situation
- Please continue to be safe as the communities we’re proud to serve are impacted by Winter Storm Blair, a significant winter storm that has brought several inches of a wintery mix that includes snow, ice, sleet and freezing rain. More accumulation is expected today, in addition to wind gusts of up to 35 mph in some areas. After the event, extreme and dangerously cold temperatures will last many days.
- More than 1,000 restoration personnel (including line techs, safety specialists, damage assessors and off-system resources) are safely working across our service area to protect the public, respond to emergency situations, assess and repair damaged equipment, and for affected customers, restore their service safely and as quickly as possible.
System Status (as of 1 p.m. Monday, Jan. 6)
- The impacts of Winter Storm Blair continue to be far-reaching and have affected all of the state’s utilities and their customers.
- For LG&E and KU, more than 52,000 customers have been affected since 6 a.m. Sunday, with the bulk of those outages occurring in the KU service area.
- The hardest-hit areas in our service area continue to be our customers in and around Lexington, Elizabethtown, and Western Ky. near Morganfield.
- As of 1 p.m. today, more than 14,500 customers remain without power.
- It’s important to note that as Winter Storm Blair is still affecting our service area, outage numbers will continue to change. Please check our outage map for the latest information.
- More than 650 downed wires have been reported across our system. The weight of ice accumulation on trees and tree limbs, combined with expected wind gusts of up to 35 mph, will create additional outages, downed wires and safety hazards across our service area.
Downed Wire Safety, Additional Safety Notes
Safety is our top priority, and we urge the public to stay away from downed wires – and to always assume they could be energized and report them to us immediately.
- LG&E customers
- KU/ODP customers
- Driving conditions continue to be extremely hazardous for the public, so please limit travel to what’s necessary and give our crews – as well as other essential response personnel – plenty of room to safely navigate hazards, as weather, traffic and road conditions can impact our crews’ ability to timely access and maneuver equipment in and around problem areas.
Outage Tools, Estimated Times of Restoration
- Our priority is to provide customers the most up-to-date information on their specific outage situations as quickly as possible, but please note that as Winter Storm Blair is still causing damage and system impacts that our crews must first assess, estimated restoration times may be displayed as “under evaluation” or “assessing condition” on our outage map. Any additional damage from Winter Storm Blair can also change estimated times of restoration, and we appreciate our customers’ patience and understanding.
- Information on our outage map is based on direct feedback from our crews in the field, so a specific estimated time of restoration won’t be displayed until the severity of damage that has caused an outage can be assessed, which includes the complexity of repairs that will be needed to safely return service.
- An important caveat is that each outage job is different and presents its own unique challenges for our crews, which is why estimated restoration times can vary by customer and are determined based on direct feedback from our crews in the field.
- As we assess damages safely and as quickly as possible, we will establish area-wide, or “global,” estimated restoration times when we expect to have power restored for the majority of customers in an area.
- Customers can report outages quickly and easily through our mobile app, by text or online. Visit lge-ku.com/outages for more information on all the ways you can report and receive information on your outage.
Restoration Process Overview
Service restorations take place through a prioritization process that involves several different layers. While we work to restore customers’ service, we’ll also use our ability to reroute power when we can from our control center, coupled with automated controls installed on our system, to limit the number of customers affected. During the restoration process:
- First, we’ll restore critical services in our community - hospitals, fire and police stations, airports and nursing homes.
- Next, we restore as many customers as we can as safely and quickly as possible.
- Then, we repair any damaged equipment. Whenever possible, temporary repairs are made to restore power quickly and allow time for longer repairs to take place.
- For customers still without power, crews then make repairs to the individual power lines and service lines that feed directly to customers’ individual homes and businesses
Note: We have more than 40 crew centers across the state and continue to redirect our more than 1,000 restoration personnel to areas where they’re needed most. As Winter Storm Blair continues affecting our service area, we will continuously evaluate and shift resources as needed to assist the most impacted areas.
Additional Safety Tips
Please continue to check on loved ones and neighbors, particularly the elderly and those with special needs. Take care to keep pets indoors and out of the bitter cold, too.
Ongoing System Maintenance and Infrastructure Investments
- We continue to harden our energy grid, replacing aging infrastructure with stronger and more durable equipment, installing intelligent technology and automating our system with more than 2,200 electronic reclosers. Since 2017, our customers have collectively experienced 150,000 fewer power outages each year (that’s 27.7 million minutes of outage time spared) thanks to the benefits of our advanced technology and our continued efforts to maintain and invest in our infrastructure.
- We have real-time system monitoring and automated technologies installed on our power lines and in substations. That technology, coupled with our advanced metering functionality being deployed across our service areas, allows us to pinpoint the location of a power outage quicker, reroute power where we can and limit the number of customers affected by the outage.
- We’re inspecting our system throughout the year to make sure equipment is in optimum shape and we’re making any needed repairs. Since 2010, we have replaced 109,000 of our 677,705 distribution poles. Since 2017, we have replaced 7,200 of our approximately 44,000 transmission poles, and we regularly inspect more than 650 electric substations and 27,000 miles of electric distribution and transmission lines.
- Technology advancements, which include the ability to remotely make system adjustments from our control center when we anticipate extreme temperatures, and more real-time access to data and information has refined our preparedness process as well.
