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(LOUISVILLE, Ky.) – When it comes to electric utility service, no one likes being left in the dark. Now, Louisville Gas and Electric Company and Kentucky Utilities Company have new technology designed to help reduce those crucial minutes customers are without service.

This new technology comes in the form of computers and mobile capabilities being deployed to LG&E and KU's entire fleet of field crew trucks, from now through November. Currently, the utilities rely on a combination of two-way radios and notes taken from radio exchanges to relay information about an incident between dispatch and field personnel. With the new mobile devices and associated software, crews in the field will receive work orders and send back data electronically, in their trucks.

This $7.2 million project improves the utilities' service to customers by:

• Expediting communication between field crews and dispatchers
• Reducing opportunity for errors and incomplete information
• Cutting down the amount of time that passes before decisions can be made on how to best repair and restore service.
   

"In the past, mobile technology and applications were not a viable option for our electric services because of their limitations," said John Wolfe, director of Electric System Restoration and Distribution for LG&E and KU. "Now that they are, field personnel will have much more information at their fingertips to help assess problems and respond to them. Their use of the mobile interface will also allow critical outage restoration information to be updated in near-real time in the customer information system, which means more efficient service and a better customer experience."

Technology like this is especially critical as we celebrate September as National Preparedness month and mark the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 14, 2008 windstorm. The storm caused extensive damage throughout the community and knocked out power to more than 376,000 LG&E and KU customers.

In the years since the windstorm, LG&E and KU have made system upgrades totaling more than $1 billion. Among those enhancements:

• A new state-of-the-art customer information system, including an online outage map, online outage reporting, a smartphone application and web-based options
• Programs to inspect/treat/replace utility poles, remove hazardous trees, and identify circuits needing improvement
• A project to improve a portion of the downtown underground network
   

Visit the LG&E and KU Facebook and Twitter pages to learn more about National Preparedness Month.

Louisville Gas and Electric Company and Kentucky Utilities Company, part of the PPL Corporation (NYSE: PPL) family of companies, are regulated utilities that serve a total of 1.2 million customers and have consistently ranked among the best companies for customer service in the United States. LG&E serves 321,000 natural gas and 397,000 electric customers in Louisville and 16 surrounding counties. Kentucky Utilities serves 546,000 customers in 77 Kentucky counties and five counties in Virginia. More information is available at www.lge-ku.com and www.pplweb.com.