The Kiwanis Club of Hopkinsville heard an update from Hopkinsville Electric System at Thursday’s meeting, who are gearing up for a large broadband expansion in Christian County.
HES President and CEO Jeff Hurd answered questions and gave a brief update on how the utility handled the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, including orders where people were able to delay on paying their bills. Hurd says it was a tricky situation, since they definitely wanted to help their consumers as much as they could, and he thinks they were able to recover while remaining fair.
Thanks to a designated $13 million for Christian Fiscal Court, HES and Pennyrile Electric will be able to start expanding high-speed internet access into the whole of county—Hurd says it’s a great starting point, but the project as a whole could cost $35 million to complete.
He says they’re still working on the logistics of the project, but they hope to start with the main roads and work their way out from there.
Todd and Trigg counties are also considering similar agreements with Pennyrile and HES to expand broadband capabilities in those areas.