Christmas in the Park Yields 67,895 Pounds

January 8, 2018: Paducah Power System’s Christmas in the Park event generated $42,214 and 67,895 pounds of food for local helping agencies. That’s slightly above last year’s canned good total and the second highest cash total in the history of the event.

The food and monetary donations were gathered through three activities: the lighting displays at Noble Park, the School Challenge and Stuff-The-Truck. More than half of the food, 36,305 pounds, came from local schools competing in the Challenge.

“The School Challenge was wildly successful, the nightly traffic at the park was steady, and the visit by the U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree was a great way to kick off the season,” said Andrea Underwood, Director of Community Relations for Paducah Power System. “We feel as if all of the elements of Christmas in the Park came together in a very successful way.”

Proceeds from Christmas in the Park will be divided among Paducah Cooperative Ministry, the Salvation Army, Family Service Society and St. Vincent DePaul Society. Delivery of the food is being coordinated now with the assistance of Wagner Moving and Storage, Supply Solutions and McKeel Equipment which help to transport the food and unload it at the helping agencies.

The PCA, which affects residential and commercial accounts, is a billing practice used by utilities to collect enough revenue to recover wholesale power costs without changing their base rates every month. Since February 2014, the PPS Board and management have dropped the PCA 72%, lowering the monthly bill for the average residential customer 16%. However, the utility’s ability to lower the PCA further is hampered by current market pressures.

“The expiration date for the savings we’ve been able to achieve to date with short-term solutions is getting closer,” said PPS General Manager Dave Carroll. “We can use available cash to prevent an increase in the PCA next month, but a long–term solution to our power supply issues is necessary to achieve a significant rate reduction.”

The board today also approved quarterly reviews of the PCA instead of an annual review. Quarterly reviews allow the PCA to be more responsive to changes in power costs, minimizing overcollections or under collections.