FRANKFORT -- A series of severe storms knocked out electricity service to thousands of Kentucky Power customers today as high winds moved across the region. At the height of the storm damage approximately 15,000 customers were without power The storm caused extensive damage to Kentucky Power’s electrical facilities ranging from downed power lines to broken utility poles to downed trees and tree limbs across power lines.
 
Kentucky Power crews worked throughout the day and into the evening to assess damage and return customers to service as safely and quickly as possible. Despite good progress throughout the day, company officials say that it could be as late as midnight Sunday before all customers see their power restored.
 
Company officials cautioned Eastern Kentucky residents 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 p.m. today, approximately 12,200 customers are without power, primarily in Kentucky Power’s Hazard District that includes Leslie, Perry, Knott and Letcher Counties. In the company’s Pikeville District, Pike and Floyd Counties had approximately 1,400 without power. Company officials explained these numbers can rise and fall throughout the overnight hours as the storm threat continues and new outage situations are identified, reported and addressed.

PLEASE NOTE:
 
Over the weekend customers and media representatives can track the number of outages in their area by going to www.kentuckypower.comand clicking on "storm & outage center" then "see current outages." The site provides a customer outage count by county and is updated continuously. They can also track updated storm information on the site by clicking in the "major outage information box."
 
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 nearly 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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