FRANKFORT, KY – Kentucky Power line crews continue today to restore service to thousands of customers who lost power Friday as the result of a severe storm that crossed Eastern Kentucky. At the height of the outages last night, more than 15,500 customers lost power after the storm knocked down power lines, broke utility poles and downed trees and tree limbs across power lines.
 
At this time, more than 6,300 customers remain without power and company officials have revised their estimates, saying it may be as late as midnight Saturday before all Kentucky Power customers affected by the storm are returned to service. Kentucky Power is bringing in additional line crews and service personnel from its affiliate companies and electrical contractors to aid in restoration efforts.
 
After verifying downed power lines, company officials cautioned residents of Eastern Kentucky to never approach downed power lines. No mater 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.
 
As of 9 a.m. today, the following outage numbers and restoration estimates were reported by the company. Company officials explained these numbers could rise and fall throughout the day as more outage cases are reported and customers are returned to service.
 
Service Area     Number of Customers      Est. Restoration
Ashland                              4,305                   midnight Saturday
Hazard                                  255                   6 p.m Friday
Paintsville                              232                   midnight Friday
Pikeville                             1,207                   midnight Friday
South Williamson                  341                    midnight Friday
Total                                 6,340
 
Customers and media representatives can track the number of outages in their area by going to www.kentuckypower.com and clicking on "storm & outage center" then "see current outages." The site provides a customer outage count by county.
 
Kentucky Power is an operating unit of American Electric Power and provides electricity to approximately 175,000 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 more than 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.

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