New Report: Utilities Across Appalachia Fail to Keep Clean Energy Promises

CHARLESTON, W.VA. - Despite commitments to affordability, reliability, safety, and a "cleaner," "more efficient" future, utilities across Appalachia are overwhelmingly failing to power on cost-saving clean energy, according to a new Sierra Club report. With demand reaching an all-time high and data centers coming online, local utilities have yet to plan a way forward and, instead, have chosen to pass the economic and health consequences onto customers.

Sierra Club's annual Dirty Truth Reportgrades 75 utilities across the country on their plans to retire costly, highly polluting coal plants by 2030, not build new gas plants through 2035, and transition to clean energy through 2035. Grades are given on an "A" to "F" scale based on scores between 0 and 100. Today's report is the fifth iteration of the Dirty Truth.

See Interactive Webpage to Track and Compare Dirty Truth Scores.

This year, Charleston-based Appalachian Power (APCo) scored a zero, the Dirty Truth's lowest possible grade. This is a 15 point decrease from the utility's performance last year. ApCo plans to indefinitely run its coal units at the Amos and Mountaineer Generating Stations, as well as the Mitchell Coal Plant it co-owns with Kentucky Power.

Like ApCo, Louisville Gas & Electric and Kentucky Utilities (LG&E and KU) scored a zero. This is a nine point drop from their 2024 score. Similarly, East Kentucky Power Coop's score dropped eight points also to a zero. Fellow Kentucky utility Big Rivers Electric Corporation scored its fourth consecutive zero. Lastly, Mitchell Generating Station co-owner Kentucky Power scored a 28 out of 100, a "D," for the fourth consecutive year.

"Appalachian Power, in its own words, strives to carry forward a 'tradition of innovation' by 'serving up cleaner ways to create energy,'" said Lisa Di Bartolomeo, West Virginia's Beyond Coal Campaign Organizer. "However, Dirty Truthhighlights how APCo has abandoned its promises to provide West Virginians with forward-looking affordable energy. Instead, local families are left to bear the brunt of sky-high energy bills and health-harming air pollution while polluters profit. Ingenuity and community care are integral to life in Appalachia, and it's time our utility put that to practice."

"The time is now for Appalachian Power to plan for a clean, affordable energy future," said Mary-Stuart Torbeck, Virginia's Beyond Coal Campaign Senior Organizer. "Today's report proves that APCo is underprepared for the challenge of increased energy demand-largely due to data centers- across their territory in Virginia. We at Sierra Club will not stop advocating for protections for Virginia families from the looming threat of continued bill increases, service disconnections, and increased pollution at the hand of power-hungry data centers and continued reliance on costly fossil fuels."

"The Dirty Truth Reporthas confirmed a truth we've long known: LG&E and KU, Big Rivers Electric Corporation, East Kentucky Power, and Kentucky Power are all failing Kentucky," said Elisa Owen, Kentucky's Beyond Coal Campaign Senior Organizer. "Our local Kentucky utilities are severely behind in capitalizing on cost savings and life-saving emission reductions available through retiring coal and onboarding clean energy. Coal reliance may line the pockets of our utilities, but it is drastically raising our bills and exacerbating health conditions for our most vulnerable neighbors."

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.