July 2010
Energy Edition
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Three Win Scholarships Paducah Power System has awarded $6000 in scholarship money to local graduating seniors. The scholarships were for one student attending any public Kentucky college or university and two students attending West Kentucky Community and Technical College. Kelsey Gage, Maxwell Croft and Joshua Meredith each received $2000 scholarships.
Gage is a graduate of Reidland High School and plans to attend WKCTC where she will begin pharmacy studies. She was an officer in several school organizations including president of the marching band and represented Reidland High School at Quad State. Gage is the daughter of Barbara and Gary Gage.
Heath graduate Maxwell Croft will start pre-medicine studies at WKCTC. Croft was a member of the track team, chairman of the music committee at Olivet Baptist Church and involved in several community service projects. He is the son of Jacqueline and Greg Croft.
Joshua Meredith graduated from St. Mary and plans to attend the University of Kentucky and major in biology. Meredith was an Eagle Scout and a member of the St. Mary baseball and soccer teams. He is the son of Loretta and Mike Meredith.
Paducah Power awards the scholarships annually. The application process for the 2011 scholarships will begin in December.
Sign up For Budget Billing One way to help manage your monthly electric bills is to sign up for budget billing. With budget billing you know what your bill will be nearly every month. This program allows you to pay the same amount every month for 11 months. On the 12th month, your account is balanced to reflect the actual usage. To qualify, you must have had service at your current address for at least one year, and your account must have a zero balance. Enrollment is open during August and September for our residential customers. New budget billing customers will receive their first budget billing on their October bill. Existing budget billing customers do not need to reapply for the program each year. Budget billing customers will not be allowed to make payment arrangements. Accounts that receive penalties for late payments are subject to being taken off the budget program. For more information, call 575-4000 and ask for a customer service representative. As I See It By David R. Clark, General Manager Recently in news reports I have been hearing that the administration is again pushing “Cap and Trade”. Cap and Trade is basically an energy tax that will hit electric consumers very hard. Ironically, Cap and Trade does not reduce any CO2 emissions or other greenhouse gases that flow into our atmosphere every day. In actuality, it is a big stick to financially force utilities to abandon fossil generation. A lot has been said about renewables. Some renewables such as solar will likely have a place in our energy future, but others such as wind generation actually cause electric costs to increase.
Wind generation must be backed up by fossil fuel resources. Most wind energy is generated during the night time hours. Many large generating plants such as coal and nuclear plants are “must-run” generation sources. They are designed to supply their full power output 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They are not designed to follow load up and down because their huge thermal mass prohibits this.
There have been times at night when certain sections of the country must pay wind generators to throttle back so that they can dump their energy into the transmission grid. The grid can only handle the needed energy that customers draw off of it at a particular time. Therefore, if the total load on the grid is 1 million MW’s and there is 1 ½ million MW’s of electric generation available, somebody must cut back. Since large coal and nuclear units can’t, wind generators do, and they receive a bonus payment for not generating at all. Of course, this bonus payments show up on customers’ bills.
Another irony is that when wind stops blowing wind generation falls off and there may be generation short falls that must be made up by expensive standby plants using fossil fuels such as combustion turbines and smaller coal plants that are able to ramp up and down and follow load as needed. Some in the administration are actually using the Gulf oil spill catastrophe as a way of promoting the Cap and Trade Tax Bill. In my mind, I fail to connect how the two are related since the oil spill is an environmental catastrophe still unfolding.
The main point to keep in mind is that Cap and Trade does not reduce greenhouse gas. It is simply a tax on everyone that will raise energy costs in our country and depress much needed economic recovery efforts by industries and businesses.
Fiber Installed Paducah Power System recently installed fiber optic line at the Paducah riverfront. The fiber was needed for five security cameras the city is placing along the river side of the floodwall. The city received a Homeland Security grant of $24,822 for the purchase and installation of the cameras. Once erected, they will help law enforcement keep the riverfront safe. The cameras will be able to pan, tilt and zoom for a 360 degree view of the area. The installation of the fiber is part of PPS’s fiber loop known as PPS FiberNet. PPS FiberNet runs throughout the region serving many businesses and government buildings including Lourdes and Western Baptist Hospitals and the Paducah Independent and McCracken County School Systems.
Power for Patients Mark your calendars for the third annual Paducah Power for Patients Blood Drive, September 1st and 2nd at the Cherry Civic Center. The Red Cross will be taking blood donations from noon until 6pm both days, and PPS customers who donate will get $10 off their next electric bill.
Utilities United Four utility companies, including Paducah Power, competed in a softball tournament last month to raise money for United Way. JPEC, Paducah Water and New Wave Communications joined PPS in a day of games that ended with Paducah Power taking home the championship trophy. The event raised more than $1000 for United Way. The utilities hope to make the tournament an annual event.
Service Anniversaries Jeff Garner 1999 Bryan Jenkins 1998 Jimmie Rodgers 2003 Beverly Wade 2004 JR Wix 2004
August Tree Trimming Kennedy Road, Martin Circle, Spot Trimming
First Day of School for Students Paducah August 12 McCracken County August 5 St. Mary August 9 Community Christian Academy August 5
Fourth of July Trivia
July 2010 Recipe Honey Herbed Butter for Corn on the Cob
½ cup fresh thyme 1 cup mild honey 2 cups butter
For 1 to 2 weeks, set aside in a covered jar, fresh thyme and honey. Strain the herbs from the honey. Whip the herbed honey with 2 cups butter and serve with freshly boiled or grilled corn on the cob.
June 2010 Recipe Cream Cheese Jalapeno Burgers 2 cups seeded and chopped jalapeno 16 oz. cream cheese, softened 2 pounds ground beef 8 hamburger buns
Preheat grill. In a medium bowl, stir together the jalapenos and cream cheese. Divide the ground beef into sixteen patties. Spoon some of the cream cheese mixture onto eight of the patties. Tope with the remaining patties, pressing the edges together to seal. Grill burgers until done. Do not press down on burgers during cooking as this will make the cheese ooze out. Serve on buns with your favorite toppings.
May 2010 Recipe Cajun Slaw 5 Tablespoons mayonnaise 1 teaspoon Louisiana hot sauce 2 Tablespoons yellow mustard 2 Tablespoons ketchup 2 Tablespoons olive oil 1 Tablespoon wine vinegar 1 teaspoon garlic salt juice of 1 medium sized lemon 3 teaspoons salt 4 bell peppers, diced 2 medium sized yellow onions, chopped 1 shredded head of cabbage
Place shredded cabbage, onion and bell pepper in a large bowl. For the dressing, put mayonnaise and mustard in a medium bowl and beat with a fork until combined. Continue to beat the mixture while slowly adding the olive oil until the mixture has returned to the thickness of the original mayonnaise. While still beating the dressing, add the Louisiana hot sauce and then the ketchup, salt and garlic salt until combined. Add wine vinegar and then the lemon juice, while continuing to stir the mixture. This will thin the sauce. Salt and pepper to taste. Pour over cabbage, onions and peppers. Toss and let set for at least an hour before serving.
April 2010 Recipe Maple Carrots 1 ½ Pounds of carrots, peeled and cut into half inch thick rounds ½ cup water 3 Tablespoons butter 2 Tablespoons maple syrup 1 Tablespoon brown sugar Salt and pepper, to taste
In a large skillet, bring all ingredients except salt and pepper to a boil. Reduce heat to medium, cover and simmer for about eight minutes. Uncover and cook another four to five minutes, until the juices are reduced to a glaze. Salt and pepper to taste.
March 2010 Recipe Candy Bird Nests
3 ounces milk chocolate chips 3 ounces butterscotch chips 1 ¼ cups show mein noodles
Melt chocolate chips and butterscotch chips in double boiler. Remove from stove and add chow mein noodles. Form into nests on wax paper or cookie sheet. Chill. Add candy bird eggs or jelly beans. Makes about eight nests.
February 2010 Recipe Orange Marmalade Chicken
2 teaspoons olive oil 4 cloves garlic, minced 4 teaspoons brown sugar 2 Tablespoons low sugar orange marmalade Salt and pepper taste 2 chicken breast halves, boneless & skinless
Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Line a shallow baking pan with aluminum foil and spray with non-stick cooking spray.
In a small frying pan over low heat, cook garlic in olive oil until soft (but not brown). Remove from heat and stir in brown sugar, marmalade, salt and pepper until well blended. Place chicken breasts in prepared baking pan and spread garlic mixture evenly over chicken. Bake until done.
January 2010 Recipe Spicy Corn & Potato Chowder
1 bunch green onions, chopped 2 (14 oz) cans sliced new potatoes 2 (10 oz) cans low sodium cream of chicken soup 1 (4 oz) can chopped green chilies 1 pkg taco seasoning mix 1 (10 oz) frozen whole kernel corn 1 red bell pepper, chopped 1 green bell pepper, chopped 1 cup water 1 (16 oz) French onion dip 2 cups cheddar cheese 2 cups milk
Mix all but last three ingredients together in a large soup pot. Cook on medium heat until bubbly. Reduce heat to medium low and add dip, cheese and milk. Mix well, stirring often, until cheese is melted.
December 2009 Recipe Candy Cane Fudge
1 package vanilla
milk chips
Put vanilla chips in pan on the stove at medium heat. Continue stirring until the chips have melted. Add icing to pan and continue stirring. Take off heat and add peppermint extract until dissolved. Pour mixture into a shallow pan. Take food coloring and add one drop in each corner of pan. Take butter knife and begin stirring until the food coloring has been swirled into the fudge. Add chopped peppermint pieces to top of fudge. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator until the fudge is firm. Cut into small pieces.
November 2009 Recipe Turkey Supreme
¼ cup butter ¼ cup flour 1 cup hot chicken broth ½ teaspoon salt Dash pepper 1 cup half and half Sliced turkey breast Cooked rice or noodles
Melt butter in saucepan over low heat; add flour, stirring until smooth. Pour hot chicken broth into the flour mixture and stir until smooth. Add salt and pepper. Heat half and half in a separate saucepan or in microwave, then add to the thickened sauce. Cook over low heat for ten minutes, stirring constantly. Serve sauce hot over sliced turkey breast and rice or noodles. Sprinkle with toasted almonds if desired.
October 2009 Recipe Easy Corn & Potato Chowder
1 ½ cups frozen hash browns (not shredded) 1 ½ cups frozen sweet corn 1 (4oz) can green chilies, drained 1 can (14 oz) chicken broth 1 tablespoon chili powder ¼ teaspoon garlic powder ¼ teaspoon onion powder ½ teaspoon paprika 1 ½ teaspoons ground cumin 1 teaspoon salt ½ cup flour 3 cups milk (divided) 8 oz shredded Cheddar cheese
In a medium saucepan, combine the frozen potatoes, frozen corn, chilies, chicken broth, spices and salt. Cover and bring to a boil over medium heat. While vegetable mixture is heating, combine flour and 1 cup of the milk in a shaker jar. Shake vigorously until no lumps remain in the flour. When the vegetable mixture comes to a boil, stir in the flour mixture and the rest of the milk. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer, stirring frequently until mixture is slightly thickened and the potatoes are tender. Remove from heat. Add the cheese; stir until melted. Serve hot.
September 2009 Recipe Iced Apple Tea
Provided by the US Apple Association 3 cups apple juice or cider 3 cups boiling water 6 tea bags 1/3 cup honey 1 teaspoon allspice Apple slices, cut in circles to garnish
Add tea bags to boiling water and let stand fifteen minutes. Remove bags and add allspice, honey and apple juice. Simmer over low heat until honey is blended, about one minute. Chill. Serve over ice.
August 2009 Recipe Tomato Salad 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil 1 1/2 tablespoons Balsamic vinegar 1/2 teaspoon dried tarragon (or 2 teaspoons fresh, chopped) 1/2 teaspoon dried basil (or 2 teaspoons fresh, chopped) Salt and pepper to taste 1 teaspoon minced garlic 11/4 pound tomatoes, cut into small to medium wedges In a medium bowl, whisk the olive oil, vinegar, garlic, and herbs until incorporated. Season with salt and pepper. Add the tomatoes to the dressing and toss gently. Let sit for an hour or so to let the flavors blend.
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