Kentucky Power is asking the Kentucky Public Service Commission for approval to make upgrades to the Mitchell plant so it can continue to operate beyond 2028.
The 54-year-old plant in West Virginia has a concrete cooling tower with structural problems, and the utility will need to seek permission to charge electricity customers to pay for a fix.
In written and oral testimony with the commission though, the cost has not been disclosed.
In a hearing last month, Commissioner Andrew Wood asked why those numbers were confidential.
Company witness Alex Vaughn said disclosing cost estimates before a competitive bidding process could drive up the price for customers.
Kentucky Power has said it would apply for a federal grant to help pay for the cooling tower project but has not said how much it would seek.
Kentucky Power is also seeking a 15% rate increase from the Kentucky commission. For the average residential customer, that translates to about $27 more each month.
The commission held a public hearing in Pikeville last month. Residents and elected officials uniformly opposed the increase.
Residents testified that they were already paying hundreds of dollars a month for electricity. Many cited people leaving eastern Kentucky for other states such as Tennessee, with the cost of electricity driving them away.
Others said people were sleeping with their coats on or switching to propane for heat.
The commission will hold another public hearing in Hazard on Thursday. Another one will take place next month in Ashland.
Mitchell runs the least of American Electric Power’s three plants in West Virginia. It is co-owned by Kentucky Power and Wheeling Power.
According to Wheeling Power’s integrated resource plan, filed to the West Virginia Public Service Commission, it operates a 25% capacity factor, well below coal plants in the region.
According to testimony to the West Virginia commission, Mitchell has burned coal when it was not profitable to generate electricity because the plant had an oversupply on site.
Company officials have said they had to manage the coal inventory at the plant for worker safety and that it was cheaper than breaching coal contracts.
