Louisville Gas & Electric and Kentucky Utilities have asked the Kentucky Public Service Commission to rehear their rate case.
The Kentucky PSC decided the LG&E and KU rate case in mid-February. In recent days, however, the company has asked for a rehearing.
The commission approved a modified settlement agreement. The company says it did not get approval for a clause that would prevent it from filing another rate case until 2028.
Byron Gary, a program attorney at the Kentucky Resources Council who was involved in the case, says a rehearing has to address an unreasonable or unlawful finding by the commission.
“The motion for rehearing from the companies here is just attempting to relitigate issues that all sides argued in the first place and the commission sided against the company on,” he said.
The office of the state Attorney General has submitted a filing in support of LG&E and KU’s motion. The office was part of the settlement agreement reached in October.
Under the settlement, KU electricity customers will see an average increase of $9 a month. LG&E electricity customers will see their bills go up $5 a month.
It’s the first increase for the companies’ customers since 2020. The companies serve about 1 million customers in more than 90 Kentucky counties.
Liz Pratt, a spokeswoman, said the commission made changes to the settlement agreement, most notably a sharing mechanism adjustment clause.
Pratt said it was key to the “stay-out” provision, which would foreclose another rate case filing prior to Aug. 1, 2028. The commission denied the clause.
“This mechanism,” she said, “which would make this stay-out period possible, represented customers’ interests and delivered material customer benefits.”
In a filing Thursday, Attorney General Russell Coleman’s office said the rejection of the clause would mean “a new base rate case will be filed sometime this year, and likely another one within the next three years.”
Rate increases have been a contentious issue at the Kentucky PSC, with demand for electricity rising. Data centers to support artificial intelligence are forecast to add even more demand.
“If the commission does not grant rehearing on this issue,” the attorney general’s filing continued, “the result will be reduced base rate stability.”
LG&E and KU is a financial supporter of WEKU.
