Neighbors Powering What Matters

Community Energy: the benefit of Pennyrile Electric and TVA working together
Community Energy

Community Energy—In Our Region, Power Means More

Pennyrile Electric is powered by a public power model — owned by and accountable to the people who live here. So the initiatives we invest in through our power model serve one purpose: helping our communities thrive.

Because we support public power, we all benefit from Community Energy. It’s the progress our model enables — like more job opportunities thanks to thriving and growing communities, outdoor recreation made possible by protected lands, cleaner energy sources, and much more.

A Partnership of Service

Pennyrile Electric and TVA work together to power not just our homes and businesses, but our potential too — by combining efforts to help create a future we all believe in.

Working Together to Make Life in Our Community Better

Reliability and Opportunity

Pennyrile Electric and TVA were founded on a mission to serve — through reliable and affordable energy, a safe and protected environment and thriving economic development.

Pennyrile Electric serves over 49,000 members in parts of nine Kentucky counties, including Butler, Caldwell, Christian, Logan, Lyon, Muhlenberg, Simpson, and Trigg.

Brent Gilkey, VP of Member Services and Communications, said providing reliable power to co-op members is a top priority for Pennyrile Electric. The co-op has purchased its power from TVA since 1942. Today, members continue to receive reliable energy, as well as access to many programs made possible by the partnership between Pennyrile Electric and TVA. These include TVA EnergyRight programs such as the DIY Home Energy Assessment and the Home Energy Evaluation, which help residents to improve energy efficiency in their homes.

Pennyrile Electric values all its members, including those who may need additional assistance. Because of this, Pennyrile Electric also participates in TVA EnergyRight’s Home Uplift program to help assist some of the most vulnerable members of the community.

Through the Home Uplift program, members who meet income qualifications can receive an energy audit and customized home energy upgrades to help make their homes more efficient and lower their power bills. Home Uplift helps these customers in many ways that improve their quality of life beyond lowering their bills, including better health. It also provides seniors with the opportunity to remain in their home and community comfortably and safely. So far, four homes in the Pennyrile Electric service area have benefitted from TVA Energy Right’s Home Uplift program.

Although most in the service area are residential members, there are also over 5,000 commercial and industrial members. Ongoing economic development and industry incentives are an important focus for Pennyrile Electric. In fact, in 2020, the partnership between Pennyrile Electric and TVA helped to bring in new industry that led to more than 1,700 new jobs. Community Energy is not just about reliable, efficient power. It also means creating jobs to help ensure a strong and stable community and a healthy local economy.

Our energy has fueled progress in our region since 1933. See the ways it's helping shape our future.

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Resources for Your Home, Business and Life

Our partnership makes helpful programs like these possible.

Economic Development

Pennyrile Electric works with TVA Economic Development to attract new companies and bring more jobs to the area and help existing businesses and industries grow in a sustainable way.

PJ Clark Lumber LLC, a producer of lumber for the residential construction market, announced plans to locate operations in Cadiz, Kentucky. Plans for the project include creating 35 new jobs and investing $5 million in the Trigg County facility. In addition to Pennyrile Electric and TVA, economic development partners include Southwestern Kentucky Economic Development Council and the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development.

TVA Economic Development serves the seven states that make up the TVA service area—almost all of Tennessee and parts of Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia and Kentucky. TVA partnerships with other economic development organizations, help to foster capital investment and job growth in the region.

Discover all the resources designed to help you manage your energy use and boost your bottom line.

Education

Pennyrile Electric and TVA work together to support community-wide learning about energy efficiency, meet STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) objectives and provide opportunities to develop skills that can prepare students for careers in technical fields. 

TVA STEM Grants

Teachers in public schools that receive power from a TVA distributor can win STEM grants up to $5,000. In 2022 alone, TVA distributed $1 million, in partnership with Bicentennial Volunteers Incorporated, a TVA retiree organization, and the Tennessee STEM Innovation Network. TVA gives preference to applications covering its primary areas of focus–environment, energy, economic development, and community problem solving.

Pennyrile Electric is proud to serve 2019 TVA STEM grant awardee Lewisburg Middle School and 2018 recipient South Todd Elementary School.

TVA EnergyRight® School Uplift 

Schools enrolled in TVA EnergyRight® School Uplift receive infrastructure upgrades to reduce energy costs and improve the quality of the learning environment. Heating, cooling and lighting improvements are the tip of the iceberg, however as the program’s focus is long-term learning for communities. Students and faculty at chosen schools receive behavior-based strategic energy management (SEM) training and learn easy, actionable energy saving tips and energy efficiency practices.  

TVA EnergyRight Educational Workshops

Eye Spy Energy Kids’ Workshop

TVA EnergyRight and Pennyrile Electric partner to bring Spark, Bolt, Zap and their other EnergyRight Monster friends to elementary schools across the community, teaching students where energy comes from, how we use it and ways to save at home. Students can continue the energy-saving fun with their families using Eye Spy Energy Kits.

EnergyRight® Energy Monsters

TVA and local power companies partner up to bring EnergyRight® Energy Monsters workshops to schools to teach where energy comes from, how we use it and ways to save at home. Students can take home Eye Spy Energy Kits to continue the energy savings fun with their families.

Education

Reliability

Pennyrile Electric partners with TVA to provide safe, reliable, clean power to service area members.

TVA supplies community energy to 153 local power companies and about 60 large industrial customers and federal facilities at the lowest feasible cost. Over half of the electricity generated by TVA comes from carbon-free resources. TVA’s diverse energy portfolio includes coal, gas, nuclear and hydroelectric plants as well as renewable resources. For over 20 years, TVA’s transmission system has achieved a reliability rate of 99.999 percent.

Reliability

Residential

Pennyrile Electric partners with TVA to help customers make smart energy decisions and save money through TVA EnergyRight.

Our partnership with TVA EnergyRight offers you resources to help with your home’s energy needs. From DIY energy-saving advice to finding a local contractor you can trust, TVA EnergyRight resources can help you improve your home’s energy efficiency and save money on your power bill.

As of August 2021, 78 customers in the Pennyrile Electric service area have participated so far this year in TVA EnergyRight programs.

Community Energy - Residential