One year after the Windstorm of 2008 knocked out power to most of Kentuckiana, with some residents without electric service more than one week, the official report from the Kentucky Public Service Commission is still months away.
But Louisville Gas & Electric is disclosing the findings of an independent study, and has also provided the report to the state. The utility says the third party consultant reviewed three main areas: The question of whether to bury overhead lines has been a constant since the windstorm. Metro Mayor Jerry Abramson eventually asked the Public Service Commission to issue an opinion on whether it is feasible. “What I would like is for all the citizens in this community to understand what it means to put a line underground. How much more often than not would there be no problem? What would it cost as far as an increase on their bill, are people willing to pay that cost? And also, what can be done to harden the system?" Abramson said. The PSC has not yet released its conclusion, but LG & E’s Chip Keeling says the independent study ruled it out. “They quickly took off the table ‘undergrounding,’” Keeling said, “To underground what is out there right now within our distribution system would cost about $24 billion and would probably take decades to complete. So we started looking at strengthening, (such as) vegetation management, tree trimming, stronger lines and stronger poles.” Keeling says it is getting more aggressive in tree trimming, and a pilot program is asking customers to allow them to expand LG & E’s vegetative maintenance outside the right of way. The report also suggests strengthening the system with “bigger wires, and stronger poles,” Keeling said. “But if you have another storm that came through like the hurricane and the ice storm, I mean there's barely a system out there that could have done any better, I mean the damage was so severe.” One year later, one day of devastating winds is still making a difference. Mayor Jerry Abramson says lessons learned include a better idea of how citizens will volunteer, what we can expect of disaster relief like the Red Cross, and how city workers can better respond, plus -- now with three natural disasters here in the last 12 months, we've learned what FEMA will and won't pay for. “We are almost paid off as far as what the Feds owe us through FEMA,” said Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson (D), “We have to assume 12.5% of the cost ourselves, but when you put the ice storm on top of it and now the flood on top of it, it has a significant effect on our balancing the budget for this fiscal year we are in now.” When the windstorm hit, customers had to call LG&E to register a power outage. In the future, LG & E plans a system in which customers will be able to do that online, where they can also track where the power crews are working. LG&E is also adding Twitter to update customers on power restoration. The Public Service Commission says a combined report on the windstorm and January ice storm will be released in November. A spokesman said the PSC was in the midst of the windstorm report when the ice storm hit. The combined report will also make recommendations to water and telecommunications providers, the spokesman added. One issue for cellular phone service providers is whether cell phone towers should have a power back-up. The report, expected to be more than 200 pages, may also address how utilities can convey safety messages to the public, such as the proper use of gas-powered electric generators. Both storms combined, LG&E and KU are each claiming $65 million in repair costs to be recovered by rate increases. That figure, however, does not include infrastructure replacement. In December, the PSC allowed LG&E and Kentucky Utilities to classify the repair costs as “regulatory assets” separate from other operating expenditures, with the presumption that the recovery of those costs will be addressed in a future rate case.
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