Every day, whether skies are blue and clear or dark and menacing, more than 1.3 million residential and business customers depend on Louisville Gas and Electric Company and Kentucky Utilities Company (LG&E and KU) for safe, reliable energy. One of the biggest threats to reliability is severe weather. Strong wind, ice accumulation and lightning are conditions that can take down tree limbs, causing them to make contact with power lines.
While March is recognized nationally as Severe Weather Preparedness Month, being ready for storms and prepared to keep the lights on and gas flowing for customers, in all conditions, is something LG&E and KU do every day. As part of that preparedness, the utilities have made steady strides to further strengthen their combined system.
Long-term enhancements across the LG&E and KU distribution and transmission systems are making a more resilient energy grid. Coupled with excellent fieldwork from restoration crews, investments mean greater efficiencies, more real-time data, improved reliability and a better experience for customers. In fact, ongoing efforts have reduced the frequency and duration of power outages 35% and 32%, respectively since 2011, excluding major events.
In 2022, the LG&E and KU transmission system alone set the best marks for transmission reliability in the utilities’ history. Just 56,000 of LG&E and KU’s 1 million electric customers experienced a transmission-related outage over the course of the year, and the average transmission-related outage lasted less than three minutes.
“The key to our continued improvements to reliability goes back to ongoing investments we’ve made across the system,” said Lonnie Bellar, LG&E and KU chief operating officer. Bellar credits the company’s replacements of aging wooden poles with steel poles, increased vegetation management efforts and rebuilding infrastructure to add lightning protection over lines.
LG&E’s natural gas system is making strides of its own. For example, when Winter Storm Elliott brought severe wintry weather, including temperatures as low as -8 degrees Fahrenheit into Kentucky in late December, energy use spiked. LG&E delivered more than half a billion cubic feet of natural gas to customers during a 24-hour period on Dec. 23. It turned out to be the second highest daily amount of gas delivered to customers on record for December.
Thanks to preparations and investments, LG&E did not incur gas outages. Recently completed long-range infrastructure planning and replacement work for both the distribution and transmission systems played a key role. Equipment in several facilities has been upgraded in recent years to ensure their ability to meet system demand. After previous extreme cold weather events, such as in 2014 and 2015, the company added more weatherization to include heating and insulation for gas regulation equipment throughout the system, which helped employees maintain operations during the recent storm.
Whether it’s ice and frigid temperatures in December or a gusty, drenching storm in March, being prepared for severe weather is critical to providing safe, reliable service across Kentucky. Visit lge-ku.com/investments to see more about how the utilities are maintaining reliable service for customers.
Louisville Gas and Electric Company and Kentucky Utilities Company, part of the PPL Corporation family of companies, are regulated utilities that serve more than 1.3 million customers. More information is available at lge-ku.com.
