A new report shows Kentucky is on a path toward unaffordable electricity.
The Kentucky Resources Council, Earthjustice, the Mountain Association, and the Metropolitan Housing Council commissioned the 65-page report.
Kentucky electricity customers could save $2.6 billion by 2050 by moving away from fossil fuels and toward more renewables and battery storage, according to the report.
It says that two laws enacted by the General Assembly make it harder to wean Kentucky off the fossil fuels that are becoming more expensive.
Ashley Wilmes is the executive director of the Kentucky Resources Council. She says that threatens to make electricity unaffordable for many residents.
“When people are choosing between their grocery bills and keeping the lights on, and when employers face rising electricity bills, our economy suffers,” she said. “Kentucky's economic future is directly tied to whether families and businesses can afford their electricity bills.”
Four major Kentucky utilities are seeking rate increases. They rely heavily on coal.
Louisville Gas & Electric and Kentucky Utilities are seeking approval for increases of $9 and $5 per month, respectively, for the typical customer.
East Kentucky Power Cooperative’s plan would raise the average bill by about $5 a month.
Kentucky Power’s proposed rate increase – $27 a month – is the highest in the region.
Wilmes says those plans won’t make Kentucky a more attractive place to live or do business.
“Continuing to rely on these aging, costly coal plants and then adding new gas on top of them is the most expensive and the most risky path we can take,” she said. “It drives up our rates, and it undermines the very economic development that we are all working to attract.”
The report says Kentucky could achieve a 95% clean electricity portfolio by 2050 and still save customers $1.6 billion.
Either way, the report says, the state should move away from building new gas plants, as all four utilities plan to do over the next several years, and continue investing in old coal plants.
The report says Senate Bills 4 and 349 increase future risks to electricity customers by effectively requiring replacement capacity to come from fossil fuels.
Kentucky generated 67% of its electricity from coal in 2024, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, more than any state but West Virginia.
Nationwide, coal fell to 15% of electricity generation in 2024, down from nearly half two decades ago. Wind and solar surpassed coal for the first time last year.
Coal production and jobs in Kentucky have fallen precipitously in the past few decades. The industry employed fewer than 4,000 workers in the June-to-September quarter, according to the Energy and Environment Cabinet’s coal dashboard.
Annual coal production is down to what Kentucky used to produce every three months.
LG&E and KU are financial supporters of WEKU.
