Pennyrile Electric held its 88th annual meeting virtually Tuesday from its corporate office in Hopkinsville, coinciding with the Western Kentucky State Fair, and later announced the results of three board of director elections.
A new face will serve on the Pennyrile Electric Board of Directors after Mindy Hargrove narrowly defeated longtime director Joe Rogers 524 to 521 to claim the Cumberland District Seat. In the Western District Bates Payne, Jr received 763 votes and Eastern District Director Robert E. Allen garnered 728 votes, with both re-elected to their terms on the board. Voting results for the board of directors were released at 3:30 PM Tuesday, and were certified thereafter.
The win by Hargrove, a successful businesswoman in Christian County and beyond, will become the first woman to serve on the board of directors. This is her second election victory in as many years, after claiming a seat on the Trigg County Public Schools Board of Education in 2024.
President and CEO Alan Gates thanked the nearly 4,000 members who participated in recent appreciation events across the service area, and provided updates on the cooperative’s broadband partnership with HES Energynet. According to him, 85% of Pennyrile Electric’s service area now has access to high-speed fiber internet, and the cooperative is pursuing grant funding to extend service to the remaining unserved members.
Gates also addressed the recent severe weather that caused service disruptions, praising members for their patience during extended outages, while commending crews for their dedicated restoration work.
Gates confirmed their future focus includes forecasting reliability improvements and strengthening infrastructure to reduce future vulnerabilities.
