Sierra Club and Others Ask Kentucky PSC to Open Affordability Docket

LOUISVILLE, KY. - Today, Sierra Club Kentucky, alongside Appalachian Citizen's Law Center, Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, Kentucky Conservation Committee, Kentucky Solar Energy Society, Metropolitan Housing Coalition, and Mountain Association, submitted a letter to the state's Public Service Commission (PSC) asking that the Commission open an affordability docket to identify the drivers of rising energy costs and potential solutions.

Between January 2025 and January 2026, the average residential electricity price nationally rose nearly 9.5 percent. As the state with the fourth lowest per capita income in the country, Kentucky's low and moderate income families have especially felt the strain of increasing bills.

READ MORE ABOUT ENERGY AFFORDABILITY IN KENTUCKY.

The goal of an affordability docket, as previously completed in neighboring Indiana, would be to solicit feedback on the causes, consequences, and solutions to energy bill increases from all stakeholders, including local utilities, energy sectors, and utility customers.

Sierra Club Kentucky is particularly concerned by the continued reliance on some of the highest cost coal-burning plants in the country and the potential for rapid build out of high-consuming data centers. A recent study found that a transition away from coal and gas, increased energy efficiency measures, renewable generation, and battery storage could save Kentuckians billions of dollars.

"I am pleased that the Sierra Club has suggested the PSC open an investigation into the primary drivers of our higher bills and hope they will make the most of their opportunity to do so," said Mark Ritter, Sierra Club Volunteer and Legislative Director. "Our legislature considered several bills focused on mitigation of energy costs for ratepayers including one making sure utilities could not cut off the electricity to ratepayers during the hottest and coldest months of the year and one mandating that data centers pay 100% of costs their very large loads add to the public's energy grid. Unfortunately, none of those bills passed this session so I hope the PSC, as an executive administrative agency, will take its opportunity to mitigate the impacts of these rapidly increasing bills on Kentucky's captive energy consumers very seriously as relief is needed immediately. And, maybe next session the legislature could consider how a competitive energy market in electric generation might drive down costs for Kentuckians? They are the ones that would have to pass the legislation that could free this state's captive energy customers from companies that care more about their shareholders than anyone in our state."

About the Sierra Club

The Sierra Club is America's largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit https://www.sierraclub.org.