LG&E, KU will close all in-person offices by late 2024. Here’s how to pay your bill
By the end of 2024, Louisville Gas and Electric and Kentucky Utilities Co. have plans to close their in-person offices and rely instead on self-service channels, the company announced in a recent statement.
Citing a “decline in walk-in transactions, increased customer use of self-service channels and best practice among similar utilities,” LG&E and KU said the change would apply to all 26 of its offices.
The office closures will occur in phases, “with all to close no later than the end of 2024,” the companies said.
Outside of their mobile app and website — which allows users to pay their bills online, track outages and start, stop or move their service — the companies said customers can pay in-person at Kroger and Walmart, among other retailers.
Customers have to provide their account number to submit a payment at those locations.
LG&E and KU customers can also find retail locations through the website. To find one near you, click on the website’s “in-person tab” and then find “Authorized payment agents.” Then click “Visit a location nearest you.” These locations accept cash, and additional fees may apply, the companies said.
“If you don’t have internet access or a smartphone, you can still mail your payment at no additional cost using the return envelope provided in your monthly bill. Please ensure plenty of time for your payment to arrive,” the companies said in the announcement.
A KU office in Lexington, located at 1 Quality St., will be affected by the change along with the other regional offices.
LG&E and KU did not specify when each office location will close.
Responding to questions via email, a spokesperson for the companies said the decision was influenced by several factors, including a harder time finding staff during the pandemic, customers’ increase use of self-service options and an increasingly common industry norm to move away from offering walk-in centers.
“Since 2014, customer traffic at the business offices has declined by 42%,” LG&E and KU media relations manager Liz Pratt wrote in an email to the Herald-Leader.
In addition to the self-service options customers can use to make payments, Pratt explained ways they can pay using cash.
“A customer who chooses to pay in person using one of the authorized retail payment agents has the option to pay by cash. Currently, Walmart locations that serve as an authorized retail payment agent also accept debit cards. We expect to add more authorized retail payment locations over the next several months,” Pratt wrote.
Pratt also elaborated on the ways the companies plan to notify customers of the change: “We’re communicating in advance with our customers to make sure they understand all of the other options available and how to use them, and to share the dates when business offices will close by phase. This includes sharing information on our website and in our customer newsletter, posting signs at the business offices, and mailing letters to customers who’ve visited in the last three months an office that’s scheduled to close.”
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This story was originally published January 9, 2023 at 2:37 PM.