A bill passed by a state Senate committee Wednesday aims to curb the influence of advocacy groups in utility rate cases.
Senate Bill 8 would limit the role of groups such as the Sierra Club in cases before the Kentucky Public Service Commission.
Instead, it would further empower the office of the state attorney general to advocate on behalf of consumers, which it currently does.
Kentucky residents are facing rising costs for their utilities, in particular electricity.
Sen. Brandon Smith, a Republican from Hazard who chairs the Senate Natural Resources and Energy Committee, says the attorney general is elected by Kentuckians. He says advocacy groups seek to stall the addition of new electricity generation that could lower costs for consumers.
"My question is, who voted for these people in the Sierra Club?" Smith said. "That's where you don't have any say, but they can come in from outside with outside funding for the sole purpose of not winning, but just delaying and tying it up. This is what we're fighting against. We have to stop it."
Elisa Owen, Beyond Coal Campaign Senior Organizer for the Sierra Club in Kentucky, said the organization's members are residents, and they advocate on behalf of other residents.
"We all live in Kentucky, and so we're not outside agitators," Owen said. "We actually live in the state. We're not well represented by the legislature or the current attorney general."
Owen says lawmakers and the attorney general do not represent Kentuckians who want to reduce the state's dependence on fossil fuels, especially coal. The Sierra Club does that, she says.
The Sierra Club has been involved in a years-long campaign to close coal-burning power plants. Nationwide, coal accounts for less than 20% of electricity generation. In Kentucky, though, it remains high, pushing 70%. That's one reason why residents' bills have increased, Owen said.
"What I would ask him is, what have you done lately on affordability?" she said.
Senate Bill 8 heads to the full chamber for consideration.
The bill would also expand the three-member PSC to five members. In addition to the three already appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Senate, the two new members would be appointed by Auditor Allison Ball.
Additionally, PSC jurisdiction would be transferred from the Energy and Environment Cabinet to the auditor's office.
The subject of increased electricity costs is especially acute in eastern Kentucky. Kentucky Power, which serves a 20-county area, has approval to raise rates by 6% this year.
That's less than half the 15% Kentucky Power had requested from the PSC last year. The office of Attorney General Russell Coleman, however, had urged the PSC to reject any increase.
Chair Angie Hatton, a former state lawmaker, acknowledged the "emotional pleas" of residents. Still, she said, there was no legal basis for the commission to deny any increase.
"The PSC must balance the interests of fair rates for all customers with the realities of the cost of providing reliable electric service and issue a decision based on the evidence presented and within the laws that govern rates," she said.
Owen cited the example of Texas, which has added wind, solar and battery storage at a breakneck pace. The state's electricity costs have not increased, even when the state's reliance on natural gas and especially coal, has declined.
Kentucky Power customers will be asked to pay more in the near term to keep a coal plant operating. The company has filed with the PSC in Kentucky and West Virginia to construct a new cooling tower at its Mitchell plant south of Moundsville, West Virginia.
Kentucky Power and its sister companies, Wheeling Power and Appalachian Power, will share the $191 million cost of the project. Kentucky Power owns 50% of Mitchell.
However, Kentucky customers are set to pay $3 more each month for the project than Wheeling and Appalachian Power customers in West Virginia.
Kentucky Power has 162,000 customers, while Appalachian Power has more than 460,000.
In three recent public hearings on Kentucky Power's rate increase, the cost of electricity wasn't the only contentious issue that arose.
When Kentucky Power acquired its share of the Mitchell plant in 2015, it ceased coal generation at the Big Sandy plant in Louisa.
Residents and elected officials have lamented the loss of jobs and tax revenue from the plant's closure. Big Sandy still operates one unit, though it is fired with natural gas – the fuel that overtook coal in power generation a decade ago.
As recently as 2015, more than 10,000 people worked in Kentucky coal mines. In the last three months of 2025, that number was below 4,000.
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