ERP: Emergency Response Plan. A response plan for restoration of utility service following a
service outage caused by a major weather event or other emergency occurrence.
ESF-12: Emergency Support Function number 12. One of 15 primary mechanisms, as deter-
mined by the Kentucky Division of Emergency Management, used by DEM to organize and provide assistance during emergency situations. ESF-12 concerns the state’s energy infra- structure.
ETC: an Eligible Telecommunications Carrier as defined by 47 U.S.C. Section 214(e). An ETC
is a common carrier of telecommunications service that has received authorization from the Commission to provide services that are supported by the Federal universal service support mechanisms provided for in 47 U.S.C. Section 254.
Expensed Restoration Costs: costs for repairs to a utility’s existing plant that did not extend
the original life expectancy of the assets repaired.
Farmers RECC: Farmers Rural Electric Cooperative Corporation.
FEMA: the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Fleming-Mason Energy: Fleming-Mason Energy Cooperative.
G & T cooperatives: cooperative organizations which are engaged in generating (“G”) electric-
ity and transmitting (“T”) electricity to other electric systems, which are engaged in the distribu- tion of electricity to the retail end-use customer.
Grayson RECC: Grayson Rural Electric Cooperative Corporation.
Guy Wire: a cable used to offset tensions and pressures to which a utility pole is subjected.
One end of the guy wire is attached to the pole and the other end is attached to an anchor rod set in the ground.
IEEE: the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.
Interconnection (water utilities): a physical connection between two water supply systems.
An interconnection may serve as an alternate supply of water during normal operations to re- duce demand from a system’s primary supply source and/or as an emergency supply, should the need arise.
Inter-County: Inter-County Energy Cooperative.
IOU: Investor-Owned Utility. An electric utility company owned and operated by private inves-
tors or stockholders. IOUs in Kentucky are Louisville Gas & Electric; Kentucky Utilities; Duke Energy Kentucky, Inc.; and Kentucky Power Company, a.k.a. American Electric Power.
IVR: Interactive Voice Response system. An IVR is an automated telephony system that inter-
acts with callers, gathers information and routes calls to the appropriate recipient. Many utilities use an IVR system to route customer calls to the proper department and to give information on certain topics such as service outages.
Jackson Energy: Jackson Energy Cooperative.
Jackson Purchase Energy: Jackson Purchase Energy Cooperative.
Joint-use Attachments: steel messenger wire and cable facilities, owned by telephone and
cable companies, which are attached to existing electric utility poles by the telecommunication companies.
KAEC: the Kentucky Association of Electric Cooperatives.
KEMA: the Kentucky Emergency Management Agency.
Kenergy: Kenergy Corporation
Kentucky Power: Kentucky Power Company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of American Electric
Power Company.
KIUC: the Kentucky Inustrial Utilty Customers, Inc.
KU: Kentucky Utilities Company. An investor-owned utility wholly owned by E.ON US.
KYWARN: the Kentucky Water/Wastewater Response Network. A mutual aid network for wa-
ter and wastewater utilities.
LG&E: Louisville Gas & Electric Co. An investor-owned utility wholly owned by E.ON US.
Licking Valley RECC: Licking Valley Rural Electric Cooperative Corporation.
Loop Feed: A redundant circuit facility. Loop feeds deliver electricity over two circuits as op-
posed to one and are designed to make circuits and loads less vulnerable to outages.
Major Event: an event that exceeds reasonable design and or operational limits of the utility
system.
Meade County RECC: Meade County Rural Electric Cooperative Corporation.
Megawatt (MW): one million watts. This term is generally used to measure the flows or capac-
ity of power plants and transmission lines.
Municipal utility: A not-for-profit utility owned and operated by a municipal government in the
community it serves. Municipal utilities serve Frankfort, Bowling Green, Owensboro and Bardstown, among other cities in Kentucky.
Mutual Aid/Assistance Crew: a utility construction crew from another area of the state or from
outside the state which offers assistance to a utility during a major outage situation, often through a mutual assistance group. In Kentucky KU and LG&E are members of a number of Regional Mutual Assistance Groups ("RMAG") including Great Lakes Mutual Assistance Group (“GLMA”), the South Eastern Exchange ("SEE"), and Midwest Mutual Assistance ("MMA") groups.
NESC: the National Electric Safety Code, which is a voluntary safety code for the electrical in-
dustry, which has been incorporated in Kentucky by KRS 278.042.
Nolin RECC: Nolin Rural Electric Cooperative Corporation.
NWS: the National Weather Service.
OMS: an Outage Management System. An OMS is a computer software program that pro-
vides a utility with an overall visual display of the status of its system and the location of out- ages.
Owen Electric: Owen Electric Cooperative.
Penta: pentachlorophenol—a wood preservative used to treat utility poles to guard against de-
cay, fungi, bacteria, insects, and marine borers.
PSC: the Kentucky Public Service Commission. The Commission regulates the intrastate
rates and services of investor-owned electric, natural gas, telephone, water and wastewater utilities, customer-owned electric and telephone cooperatives, water districts and associations, and certain aspects of gas pipelines.
Pump Station: a structure containing pumps and appurtenant piping, valves and other me-
chanical and electrical equipment for pumping water or wastewater. Also called “lift station”.
Radial (ice) Accumulation: the measure (in inches) of ice accumulation around a central axis,
such as a tree branch or a power line. The thickness of the ice is measured from the edge of the central axis to the outside edge of the ice.
Radial Feed: a single line circuit facility. A radial feed delivers electricity over a single circuit
as opposed to two circuits in a loop feed situation. Circuits that are served by radial feed are more vulnerable to outages as there are no redundant facilities to deliver electricity if the single circuit is damaged.
RECC: a Rural Electric Cooperative Corporation organized pursuant to KRS Chapter 279.
Regulatory Asset/Liability: Specific costs or revenues that a regulatory agency permits a util-
ity to defer to its balance sheet. These amounts would otherwise be shown on the utility's in- come statement and charged against its current expenses or revenues.
Revenue requirement: The total revenue that the utility is authorized an opportunity to re-
ROW: rights-of-way. ROW refers to the property used by a utility to construct, maintain, repair,
or replace the facilities needed to provide service.
RTCC: Rural Telephone Cooperative Corporation.
RUS: the U.S. Rural Utilities Service. RUS is a federal agency within the United States De-
partment of Agriculture (USDA). It is one of the executive departments of the federal govern- ment charged with providing public utilities to rural areas in the United States via public-private partnerships.
Salt River Electric (Salt River): Salt River Electric Cooperative.
SCADA: a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition system. A highly distributed system used
to control geographically dispersed assets, often scattered over thousands of square kilome- ters, where centralized data acquisition and control are critical to system operation. They are used in distribution systems such as water distribution and wastewater collection systems, oil and gas pipelines, electrical power grids, and railway transportation systems.
Service Drop: the overhead service conductors from the last pole or other aerial support,
which connect to the point of service of a utility customer.
Service Entrance: the service conductors and conduit/cable between the terminals of the ser-
vice equipment and point of attachment of the service drop. A service entrance usually in- cludes a masthead (weatherhead) and a meter base.
Shelby Energy: Shelby Energy Cooperative.
South Kentucky RECC: South Kentucky Rural Electric Cooperative Corporation.
SRP: a state resort park in the Kentucky state park system which has permanent cabins or
lodge rooms to accommodate overnight park visitors.
Substation: equipment that switches, changes or regulates electric voltage.
Tariff: A published volume of rate schedules and general terms and conditions under which a
product or service will be supplied.
Taylor County RECC: Taylor County Rural Electric Cooperative Corporation.
Test year: A 12-month period, which may be adjusted for known and measurable changes,
that is used to determine a utility’s annual revenue requirement. The test year may be an ac- tual historical test year or a forecasted test year which looks 12 months beyond the time of the Commission decision.
Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA): a federal corporation and the country’s largest public
power company, serving Tennessee and portions of six other states, including several counties in south central and western Kentucky.
Transmission: the movement or transfer of electric energy over an interconnected group of
lines and associated equipment between points of supply and points at which it is transformed for delivery to consumers, or is delivered to other electric systems.
The 2009 ice storm did extensive damage to transmission lines in western Kentucky. PSC photos
This 161-kV transmission line came down when the weight of ice combined with high winds to shear the bolts holding the middle section to the base.