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UTILITY RULES

Please lend your voice today!

House Bill 341 would give PSC-regulated utilities monopolies the right to raise rates with limited regulatory scrutiny or public participation. 

Back in 2020, during the pandemic, investor-owned LG&E and KU filed cases with the Ky. Public Service Commission (PSC), seeking to raise and restructure their rates by as much as 20%, in regressive, anti-consumer ways that would have cost the average residential customer an extra $277/year and undermine customer-owned solar power.  But between PSC regulators and citizen intervenors, the outcome wasn't nearly as bad as it could've been.

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Now, State Rep. Jim Gooch, who chairs the House Natural Resources & Energy Committee, has filed a bill that would have the following harmful effects: 

 

  • Utility monopolies could ask for a quicker rate-approval process, with less public notice and participation, including, “No evidentiary hearing ... unless requested by the utility.”

  • The ability of ratepayers to "intervene" in a rate case would be harmed by shorter notice and a faster application deadline.

  • The amount and types of utility information citizen "intervenors" could have would be limited.  Intervenors could comment only; their attorneys could no longer cross-examine utility witnesses.

  • Rate cases affecting fewer than 250,000 customers would not require a public meeting.

  • Utility profit rates would be locked indefinitely without PSC review.

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Please call 1-800-372-7181 between 7am to 9pm Monday-Friday (until 6pm on holidays and Fridays).  Leave a message for "the full House Committee on Natural Resources & Energy" plus "House and Senate Leadership."  Ask them to, "Vote NO on House Bill 341," and add a sentence in your own words about why you think a "no vote" matters.

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Never called Frankfort before?  Consider these tips.

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We can't make this stuff up!  Read the bill and learn more here, here and here.

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Background information:

  • Utilities are allowed to operate as monopolies and earn near-guaranteed profits.  In exchange, their ability to raise rates is limited, and they're subject to other regulations.  They must serve customers equitably, reliably and safely, in ways that "free-market" businesses are not.  Now, these monopolies have decided they don't want be subject to that extra regulation. 

  • Utility regulation is an expression of public policy.  Without regulation, the availability, quality and cost of service would vary greatly, based on customers' locations.  (The differences in internet and cell-phone service in urban and rural areas is huge, because neither utility is meaningfully regulated.)

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Law Books

Learn more about the rules by which the Ky. Public Service Commission regulates investor-owned utilities, such as LG&E-KU. 

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