Letter to media on AEP and PSC

When the Power Bill Becomes a Crisis: Eastern Kentucky Can’t Absorb Another Rate Increase

By Raymond Ratliff

Ashcamp, Kentucky

In Eastern Kentucky, winter doesn’t just bring cold weather — it brings fear. Fear of opening the mailbox. Fear of turning on the heat. Fear of choosing between electricity, food, or medicine.

My recent electric bills from Kentucky Power tell a story that thousands of families across the region recognize all too well. In October, my household used 438 kilowatt-hours and paid $113. In November, usage rose to 1,000 kilowatt-hours, and the bill jumped to $218. By January, winter heating needs pushed usage to 2,306 kilowatt-hours — and the bill exploded to $364.

This wasn’t luxury use. It wasn’t waste. It was survival.

Electricity is not optional in Eastern Kentucky. Many homes rely on electric heat. Housing stock is older and less efficient. Terrain and weather are unforgiving. And incomes — especially for seniors, disabled residents, and working families — are among the lowest in the Commonwealth.

Yet Kentucky Power customers are paying electric bills that rival or exceed those in wealthier urban areas and neighboring states. Nationally, average residential electric rates hover around 15 to 16 cents per kilowatt-hour. In many parts of the South and Midwest, they’re lower. TVA-served areas of Kentucky routinely see significantly lower winter electric costs.

So why are Eastern Kentucky families — with fewer economic opportunities and fewer choices — paying more?

The answer isn’t just usage. It’s the accumulation of rate increases, fuel adjustment charges, environmental surcharges, DSM riders, and fixed fees that pile on month after month. Even when customers conserve, the bill keeps climbing. Fixed charges punish low-income households the hardest, because they rise regardless of how careful you are.

For people on fixed incomes, these increases aren’t inconvenient — they’re destabilizing. Social Security doesn’t rise when utility riders do. Disability checks don’t adjust for fuel surcharges. Pensions don’t account for environmental compliance costs passed directly to customers.

When regulators approve rate increases in isolation, without fully considering cumulative impact, they may follow procedure — but they fail the people they are meant to protect.

The Kentucky Public Service Commission exists to ensure rates are “fair, just, and reasonable.” That standard must mean more than financial viability for utilities. It must also mean affordability for customers. A system that keeps the lights on but forces families into debt, shutoff notices, or dangerous under-heating is not reasonable.

Eastern Kentucky has already paid dearly for decades of extraction, environmental damage, and economic neglect. Asking the same communities to shoulder ever-higher utility costs — while alternatives are limited and incomes stagnate — is not just bad policy. It’s unjust.

This is not a call to bankrupt utilities. It is a call for balance, transparency, and restraint. Regulators should reexamine the compounding effect of riders and surcharges, expand protections for fixed-income and medically vulnerable customers, and demand real cost controls before approving future increases.

Electricity is a necessity, not a privilege. Heat in winter is not optional. The people of Eastern Kentucky are doing their part — budgeting, conserving, and struggling quietly. It’s time for regulators and policymakers to do theirs.

Because no one should fear freezing in their own home because the power bill has become unaffordable.

PSC Reference:

Kentucky Public Service Commission electric rate cases involving Kentucky Power Company (AEP Kentucky), including recent base rate increases and rider approvals under KRS Chapter 278.