Members of the Kentucky Public Service Commission heard from Kentucky Power customers in Hazard on Thursday.
Virginia Holland was one of the dozens of residents who spoke at the second public hearing on Kentucky Power’s proposed rate increase.
Holland, who’s retired and lives in Letcher County, said she helps people who are on fixed incomes and are struggling to pay their power bills.
“They’re proud people,” she said. “It takes a lot for an elderly person to call and say, ‘Virginia, can your son come and cut me some wood because I’m probably going to have my power cut off?’”
Holland said some residents spend more than half of their monthly income on their electricity bills.
“I just don’t understand,” she said. “It’s even veterans. I don’t understand why that we have to worry about another increase. If anything, they should be giving back to us.”
Kentucky Power is asking the Public Service Commission for a 15% increase. For the average residential customer, that’s about $27 a month. For others, though, it could be much more.
Kentucky Power is also asking the commission for approval to keep its half of the Mitchell coal plant in West Virginia past 2028. Kentucky Power co-owns the plant with Wheeling Power.
If the commission approves that plan, customer bills will increase less than $3 a month.
However, Kentucky Power will likely come back to the commission and ask to recover the cost of replacing a cooling tower at Mitchell.
The company has not disclosed the estimated cost of the project. It has applied for a federal grant to help pay for the cooling tower, but the application reveals nothing about the cost.
A company witness has testified that disclosing the estimated cost before a competitive bid could increase the cost for customers.
A Sierra Club witness testified that converting the plant from coal to natural gas would be less expensive than continuing to operate it with coal.
