LG&E and KU Bow to Community Advocacy, Reach Settlement for Lesser Rate Increases

LOUISVILLE, KY. - Louisville Gas & Electric (LG&E) and Kentucky Utilities (KU) have reached a settlement in their request to increase rates for nearly one million electricity customersand 335,000 gas customers in Kentucky. Negotiations and outcry at public hearings considerably decreased the utilities initial request, however LG&E and KU's new agreement would still increase rates between 4.63 and 10.86 percent for Kentuckians.

The settlement would see LG&E electricity customers' bills increase $5.04 per month, KU electricity customers' bills increase $9.01 per month, and LG&E gas customers' bills increase $8.10 per month, roughly half the increase the companies initially requested. The Kentucky Public Service Commission must approve the settlement before any rate increases take effect in 2026.

This fall, over 125 people attended three public hearings on the potential rate increase in Louisville, Lexington, and Middlesboro. All attendees spoke out against the proposed rate hikes, noting that as high rates increasingly strain customers, service has not improved. Speakers at the Middlesboro hearing reminded the PSC that LG&E and KU closed the Middlesboro service office in 2024, meaning customers now pay a $2.50 online service fee to submit payments.

In response to the settlement, Elisa Owen, Kentucky's Beyond Coal Campaign Senior Organizer issued the following statement.

"While LG&E and KU's settlement is a small step toward easing rate hikes, rates still go up, and those are real costs to everyday Kentuckians. Here in Kentucky, investing in fossil fuel infrastructure like gas plants and throwing good money after bad to keep aging coal plants afloat is bad for the climate and bad for our wallets. We see it on our monthly electricity bills and we feel it in extreme weather events like winter storm Elliott. Those impacts will only get worse as long as our largest utilities continue to invest in dirty, nineteenth century technologies.

"People across our state are already choosing between heating their home, powering their lights, affording medication, or feeding their children. Like at the public hearings on these proposed rate increases, we will continue to show up and hold LG&E and KU accountable to serving Kentucky families first, not as an afterthought."

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