Power Restoration Procedure

PURPOSE
The purpose of the Hopkinsville Electric System Life Support Service is to provide rapid service restoration to customers who are known by HES to have electrical equipment necessary to sustain human life functions.

INTENTS AND LIMITATIONS
In the event of a power outage, HES will endeavor to restore electric service to life support customers as quickly as possible.  In the event of a long term planned power outage, HES will endeavor to notify the life support customer of the planned outage prior to the outage and attempt to give an estimate of the duration.  When HES has an outage that will be excessive in length, HES will attempt to contact the customer and advise of the problem and estimated duration.  All notices to customers shall be made at or to his address listed on his application.  HES recommends that all life support customers have and use backup power systems recommended by the manufacture of the life support equipment.

HES IN NO WAY GUARANTEES THAT THESE SERVICES BY HES WILL BE CARRIED OUT. ALSO, HES DOES NOT GUARANTEE UNINTERRUPTED POWER SERVICE.  THIS PROGRAM IS PROVIDED ONLY AS A SERVICE TO CUSTOMERS WITH ELECTRICAL LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEMS AS A GOODWILL GESTURE ON THE PART OF HES IN AN ATTEMPT TO LIMIT THE IMPACT OF POWER FAILURES OR INTERRUPTIONS TO THESE CUSTOMERS.

APPLICATIONS
Customers may request to be added to the list of life support customers by coming to the Hopkinsville Electric System at 1820 East Ninth Street.  This service is only available by coming into the lobby, and not available at the drive-up window.  Applications may be requested and completed prior to visiting the HES office.

The customer must complete an application describing the nature of the condition, name and relationship of the patient, description of life support equipment and its electric requirements, and the physician’s name and address.  The customer must also submit a physician’s statement to HES.

DOCUMENTATION
HES will send a letter to the customer confirming the request to be added to the Life Support Program.  It is the obligation of the customer to provide HES with a physician’s statement indicating that the patient’s physical condition requires the life sustaining equipment.  If this statement is not received within ten (10) working days from date of confirmation letter, then HES will assume that a life support condition does not exist.

INSPECTION
HES will visit the home of the patient at the time of application to confirm electric loads, meter and transformer information.  HES may also visit the patient every 3 to 6 months to confirm the condition exists and the electric requirements still exist.

APPROVAL
When an application is completed, the doctor’s statement is completed, and a home visit is completed, then a customer is considered by HES for their name to be added to the Life Support list.  All applicants will be notified by mail of their acceptance or rejection to the Life Support program.

Should conditions on the application or physician’s statement differ from data collected during home visit, then the customer will not be added to the list.

REMOVAL
A customer may be removed from the list by:
1)    requesting in writing that such action be taken,
2)    allowing the account to become inactive, or
3)    if a home visit finds that the conditions no longer required a classification of the Life Support Program.

Customers that move to another electric account number, (i.e. another address) will have to make new application for the new address.

In the event of related changes, it is the customer’s responsibility to contact the HES office to keep the customer account current and accurate.

SERVICE DISCONNECTS
A customer that is on the Life Support list is still responsible for paying their electric bill.  In the event that a Life Support customer does not pay their electric bill by the cutoff date, then a current limiting devise may be installed instead of turning the electricity off.  This device will allow enough electric energy to power the patient’s life support equipment, but not enough to power other home appliances.  If the bill is still delinquent after an additional sixty (60) days, the electricity will be turned off to this account.  The customer is responsible for all electric energy used while the current limiting device is installed.  The customer is responsible for all fees for restoring power to the dwelling.  For the purpose of paying connection fees, the installation of the current limiting device will be treated as an account that has had power cut off.

COST
There is no cost to the patient or the customer for the Life Support program.

POWER RESTORATION PROCEDURE

In an emergency of a wide-spread power outage, Hopkinsville Electric System follows a plan as it restores power.

1. When a major power outage occurs, HES's first step is to assess the situation.
2. Then we begin restoring power to major distribution points and feeder lines that leave electric substations so that we can safely restore power to the greatest number of customers in the shortest time possible. Hopkinsville Electric System's electric distribution system is built so that most parts of the community and many neighborhoods can be served by more than one substation or feeder line. If electricity is lost, we often can restore power by bringing it in from another point.
3. Next, we repair lines that affect groups of customers, such as a line feeding a street or neighborhood.
4. Finally, we concentrate on repairing damage to service lines to individual customers. Repairing a service line first is useless if the main line in the neighborhood is dead or if the feeder line to the neighborhood has no power.
5. As we restore power, we give priority to hospitals, nursing homes and people dependent on life support equipment.

We rely on our customers to help us pinpoint problems.  If your electricity goes off -- call us at 270-887-4219 during the day or 270-887-4216 after hours, weekends, holidays.

(return to top)