OMU News

Rising costs are affecting all of us. To manage your utility bills this winter, learn to winterize your home by visiting our "Using Your Utilities" portion of the website. Click here for more information.

Labels: winter

A windstorm with gusts topping 75 miles per hour struck Owensboro on Sunday, September 14, causing widespread and extensive damage throughout the city.

Immediately following the storm, Owensboro Municipal Utilities reported approximately 19,000 of its 25,500 customers were without power. As of 8 a.m. on Thursday, September 18, approximately 2,000 customers remain without power.

At the height of the storm, OMU's entire electric grid was affected. Nine of the utility's 15 substations were affected, seven transmission poles were destroyed along with 30 distribution ones.

Due to the nature of this storm and the way it affected the system, crews had to first restore transmission capabilities, then re-energize substations before crews could begin physically walking each of the utilities power lines to assess additional damage, evaluate safety and restore power where possible.

OMU estimates that the majority of those currently without power will be restored by Wednesday evening. Crews from Frankfort, Henderson, Bowling Green and Springfield, IL, are working with OMU crews to complete restoration. Hendrix contract crews are also assisting in restoration.

Please do not remove limbs or trees from lines. Assume that all downed lines are energized and therefore dangerous.

For more information about electric restoration, please click here.

To report downed lines or power outages, please call (270) 926-3200.

Labels: winter

As part of a national observance, Owensboro Municipal Utilities is celebrating Public Power Week, October 6-10, 2008 along with more than 2,000 other electric utilities whose communities provide their citizens electric services on a locally-owned, not-for-profit basis.

Public Power Week will kick off with a 5K Power Run/Walk starting and ending at OMU’s Customer Service Center on Tamarack Road on Saturday, October 4. Entry forms can be obtained at the Customer Center and clicking here. Awards will be given in a variety of age divisions in the race.

OMU will celebrate Customer Appreciation Day on Wednesday, October 8. Visitors to the Customer Service Center will receive a compact fluorescent light bulb. For additional tips on saving energy, please let OMU be your partner in using your utilities wisely by clicking here.

OMU will also sponsor the Greater Owensboro Chamber of Commerce’s Rooster Booster breakfast on October 9 as part of its month-long commemoration of Public Power Week.

Customers will receive a copy of OMU’s annual report in their October combined services billing statements. This report will provide an overview of the local utility and will also be available on this site. For copies of past year's reports, click here.

Public Power Week is celebrated in conjunction with the American Public Power Association in Washington, D.C., the service organization for community- and state-owned electric utilities.

Labels: celebrations, winter