FRANKFORT, KY – Kentucky Power will soon begin construction on a new, $62.5 million, 138,000-volt electric transmission line in Knott and Perry counties following the approval of the project by the Kentucky Public Service Commission. The power line is needed to improve electric service reliability and to meet growing electricity demand in Eastern Kentucky.  The company announced plans to construct the line in November 2010 and sought Public Service Commission approval following open public information meetings at Hindman and Hazard in December 2010.

“This new transmission line is vitally important for our area,” said Mike Lasslo, manager of distribution and customer services for Kentucky Power’s Hazard District.  “Once in service, the line and the associated substation facilities will enhance reliability, ensure the integrity of our local area transmission grid, and provide us more options for addressing power outages when they occur,” he said.

As a result of the PSC’s approval, the company will begin construction efforts sometime this summer and expects to complete the line by the end of 2014.  The line will extend approximately 20 miles from Kentucky Power’s Soft Shell Substation north of the community of Soft Shell to its Bonnyman Substation north of Hazard. The line will be built on H-frame structures approximately 100 feet in height and within a 100-foot right-of-way.

“Kentucky Power spent many months studying the best route for the line and worked with affected property owners and other parties to plan a route with minimal impact to the public and the environment,” Lasslo said.

Although line construction will begin this summer, costs associated with the project are not expected to be passed to customers right away. Customers will not see any rate adjustment related to this project before the line is completed and placed in service.

Kentucky Power is an operating unit of American Electric Power and provides electricity to approximately 173,000 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 nearly 38,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the United States. 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 is in Columbus, Ohio.

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