​Business Email Compromise (BEC) happens when criminals intercept or spoof emails, often from vendors or executives. The goal is to trick accounts payable staff into sending payments to fraudulent accounts, usually by changing bank details or sending fake invoices, exploiting trust and urgency through sophisticated techniques like domain spoofing and email thread hijacking. These attackers monitor conversations to time their move, altering payment instructions to divert funds via wire or ACH transfers to their own accounts, causing major financial losses.
 
How It Works

1. Compromise: Attackers first gain access to a legitimate email account (e.g., a vendor's or executive's) through phishing or other methods.
2. Monitoring: They silently monitor the compromised inbox to learn the company's payment processes, trusted contacts, and typical transaction amounts.
3. Interception: When a payment is due, the fraudster inserts themselves into the email thread, impersonating the legitimate sender.
4. Manipulation: They send a fake invoice or a request to change banking details (often a slight domain variation, like adding an "i" for an "l"), directing payment to the fraudster's account.
5. Urgency: The request often includes urgency (e.g., "avoid late fees") to pressure employees into acting quickly without verifying. 

 
Common Tactics

• Vendor Email Compromise (VEC): Spoofing or taking over a vendor's email to request payment changes.
• CEO Fraud/Executive Impersonation: Posing as a senior leader to demand urgent payments.
• Domain Spoofing: Creating fake domains that look very similar to real ones (e.g., company.com vs. cornpany.com). 

 
Warning Signs to Watch For

• Sudden changes in wire instructions, especially close to payment deadlines
• Emails with subtle domain misspellings (e.g., @teamavalon.com vs. @t3amavalon.com)
• Unusual tone or urgency from known contacts
• Requests to bypass standard verification procedures
• Lack of phone confirmation from high-value transfers

 
Protection Measures

• Verify Changes: Always verbally verify any changes to bank details or payment instructions with a trusted contact via phone.
• Strong Protocols: Implement multi-step approval processes for payments and bank detail changes.
• Email Security: Use advanced email security to detect phishing and suspicious attachments/links.
• Employee Training: Educate staff to spot red flags, like urgent requests or subtle email address changes. 

 
If your business or organization handles wire transfers, especially in sectors like legal, real estate, construction, or finance, you are a prime target.  Review your wire transfer protocols today.  Ensure that every change in payment instructions is verified independently – not just by replying to the email.
 
HMP&L Fiber is your community owned fiber internet and phone provider and our staff is here to assist you and provide guidance if you suspect business email compromise or have questions.
 

New Outage Map & Reporting System Now Live for HMP&L

HENDERSON, KY, June 11, 2025 – Henderson Municipal Power & Light (HMP&L) has launched a new way for customers to report outages and stay informed when the power goes out. The system, called Hometown Grid, is now live and makes it easier than ever to report issues and receive real-time updates—no app or login required.

Customers can report an outage at any time by simply texting or calling 888-579-2726. The system automatically confirms the report and asks a few quick follow-up questions to help utility crews pinpoint the issue. Outages are shown on a public map in real time, so residents can see where issues are occurring and follow the progress as updates come in.

Hometown Grid was designed specifically for local utilities and is already in use by cities across the region. By improving how outage information is collected and shared, the system helps ensure that no report gets overlooked while keeping customers connected throughout the process.

To view the outage map, visit www.hometowngrid.com/hmpl.
For more information, call (270) 826-2726 or visit hmpl.com.

Happy Public Power Week from HMP&L
your community owned utility!

Proud of our dedicated team at HMP&L for providing the highest quality service at the lowest possible rates.

​A special thanks to our guys who work in all conditions and always get the job done.

About two months ago, we were contacted by the American Public Power Association which is a national organization for approximately 2,000 community owned electric utilities. They wanted to know more about our battery storage Request For Proposals. Specifically, they were interested to know about how energy storage fits into HMP&L’s plans and power supply mix. Comments from the interview and the story are included in their public power magazine under heading “The future is not like the past”:​

To Residents of Henderson, Kentucky:
We are excited to announce that Henderson Municipal Power & Light has partnered with Fiber Optic Solutions to construct a new multi-gigabit fiber-to-home network. Starting this February 2024, Fiber Optic Solutions will begin construction within and around the City of Henderson, Kentucky.

The fiber build-out is scheduled to last approximately a year and a half with completion before the end of 2025. While committed to minimizing any disruptions, we understand this construction may cause temporary inconveniences, and we appreciate your patience and understanding during this time.

​This new fiber infrastructure will expand our community’s access to high speed and reliable internet, and it is an investment in technology that will have a positive and lasting impact on education and economic development for Henderson.

Stay tuned for updates and further information as the project progresses at hmplfiber.com. Pre-signups for the new residential HMP&L Fiber service will begin in the coming weeks.
​
For questions or concerns, please contact HMP&L at (270) 826-2726.

​Henderson Municipal Power & Light, a public electric utility serving approximately 12,000 customers in the City of Henderson, Kentucky has been recognized by the American Public Power Association (APPA) with both the 2022 Certificate of Excellence in Reliability Award and the Reliable Public Power Provider (RP3) Designation.

​The Certificate of Excellence Award recognizes HMP&L’s exceptional electric reliability in 2022 being in the top quartile (25%) of utilities for System Average Interruption Duration Index (SAIDI). SAIDI measures how long the average customer experiences an outage. Utilities must meet strict criteria, including having a SAIDI below the national average, to qualify for the award. The median SAIDI for North American utilities for 2022 was 1.50 hours. The SAIDI for HMP&L was 31.829 minutes in comparison. The RP3 designation, which lasts for three years, recognizes public power utilities that demonstrate proficiency in four key disciplines: reliability, safety, workforce development, and system improvement. HMP&L joins 271 public power utilities nationwide that hold the RP3 designation. This is the second RP3 designation that HMP&L has received. This signifies HMP&L’s commitment to achieving industry best practices.
​
We, at HMP&L, are honored to receive these recognitions. They are the culmination of a lot of hard work from all our employees who care about powering our community. We are committed to continuing to strive as a utility and improve our operations to serve our customers long into the future.

On June 27, 2022, HMP&L broke ground to begin construction of its new service center.  ​Construction of the new HMP&L Service Center began with clearing of approximately 8.42 acres of land located at 1213 Barrett Boulevard.  The new facility will house all the operations which are currently in five separate buildings located in downtown Henderson on the block bordered by Fifth Street, Main Street, Water Street, and the railroad tracks.  HMP&L has been located in downtown Henderson since its first building was built in 1896 at Fourth and Main Streets.  The buildings on the current site have been used by previous businesses such as Henderson Brewing Company, Henderson Ice & Storage and an auto dealership, to name a few, and were acquired by the Utility through the years.  Some date back to the early 1900’s. However, they were not designed to accommodate modern utility equipment and processes. When completed, the service center will consist of a main operations building being a one-story, brick building of approximately 58,295 square feet, a covered storage building of approximately 15,660 square feet, a paved/enclosed area behind the building for the pole and material yard, and a paved area in front of the building for visitor and employee parking.  The main service center building will consist of administrative offices, a public meeting space, training room, warehouse, garage, and truck docks. The covered storage building will house equipment and materials. The construction project began in December of 2021 and is anticipated for completion by the fall of 2023.  

Learn more about the project here.

​Henderson Municipal Power & Light (HMP&L) has received national recognition for achieving exceptional electric reliability in 2021.  The recognition comes from the American Public Power Association (APPA), a trade group that represents more than 2,000 not-for-profit, community-owned electric utilities.

APPA tracks electric utility power outage and restoration data and once a year compares this data to national statistics tracked by the U.S. Energy Information Administration for all types of electric utilities.  Nationwide, the average public power customer has their lights out for less than half the amount of time that customers of other types of utilities do.

This year APPA commended HMP&L for achieving exceptional electric reliability.  HMP&L’s reliability data was compared to the national reliability data and HMP&L was in the top quartile (25%) of utilities for System Average Interruption Duration Index (SAIDI).  The SAIDI is the average electrical interruption duration in minutes for a given period. HMP&L had a SAIDI value of 20 minutes compared to the national average SAIDI value of 136 minutes for the calendar year of 2021.

The recognition award was presented by General Manager, Brad Bickett, to Transmission & Distribution Line Supervisor, Matt Deibler, and Transmission & Distribution Manager, Glen Leslie, at the Utility Commission Meeting on April 25, 2022.  HMP&L is proud to receive this recognition.  It is a testament to the hard work and support of all our staff and commission to ensure that we keep the lights on in Henderson.   

Dear Neighbor,

We are excited to share with you the construction of a new building for HMP&L will begin on Monday, March 14th.

The process will begin with the demolition of the existing structure at 417 N Main Street next week. Contractors will maintain accessibility to the alley behind the homes/businesses on West side of Main Street and the parking spaces in front of the homes/businesses on Main Street.

In advance, thank you for your cooperation as we move forward with the construction of our new building. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Tammy Konsler at 270-826-2726.

​Sincerely,
Brad Bickett
General Manager

Effective Tuesday, February 1, 2022, Henderson Municipal Power & Light (HMP&L) saw a change in leadership.  Brad Bickett, an 11-year veteran of HMP&L, succeeded Chris Heimgartner, who left after five years as General Manager to return to the west coast.  

Bickett, a native of Owensboro, Kentucky, earned his bachelor’s degree from Western Kentucky University and gained valuable experience working in engineering positions in the auto industry and as plant engineer at the Reid-Station Two power plant complex.  Bickett began working for HMP&L in 2010 as the Reliability Compliance Manger, responsible for compliance with NERC regulatory requirements.  He has 14 years of electric utility experience.  During his tenure, he earned an MBA from the University of Southern Indiana in 2020 and then transitioned to Power Supply Director in January of 2021.  As Power Supply Director, he had responsibility for HMP&L’s participation in wholesale power markets, related third party contracts, and electric transmission activities.  Bickett was a member of the Henderson Leadership Initiative - Class of 2014 and served as Treasurer of the Kentucky Municipal Utilities Association from January 2016 to August 2018.
 
Bickett believes HMP&L should continue to follow its Strategic Plan with a mission to provide the highest quality service at the lowest possible rates with work plans that extend over the next 20 years. “Maintaining safety of employees and the public will always be the most important priority in all the work that we do,” he stated.  “There will be opportunities going forward to evaluate how processes can be automated and made more efficient with use of developing technology.”   Some ideas on the horizon include adding solar power, energy conservation, improving system reliability, and system modernization.
​        
Lin Shannon, Utility Commission Chairman stated, “Brad Bickett was the ideal choice for the general manager position.   He is a proven leader at HMP&L and has earned the respect and admiration of his peers, the Utility Commission, and so many others that have worked with him.  His background and broad work experience for over a decade at HMP&L has been extensive which will serve him well in the new position.”  

Shannon concluded by stating, “the future for HMP&L is bright as our entire team continues to focus on our core principles of providing excellent service and reliable low-cost electricity, data and voice service to our customers and the citizens of Henderson.  HMP&L has served our community for over 125 years and we remain so appreciative of this continued opportunity to serve.”
  
Excerpts provided from article published in the Gleaner on February 1, 2022 by Chuck Stinnett