Chapter: Cumberland

The grassroots campaign to protect rooftop solar in Kentucky and prevent electric utilities from rigging the rules against locally-owned distributed solar generation won a major victory in May, ending (for now) a multi-year dispute between solar advocates and monopoly utility companies over the value of fed-back rooftop solar energy.

On May 14, 2021 the Kentucky Public Service Commission (PSC) issued a ruling rejecting Kentucky Power Company’s proposal to slash by seventy-five percent the value of the credit that new solar customers would receive for electric power from their panels that is fed back to the grid. Importantly, the PSC order established a methodology to determine a fair value of that fed-back distributed solar energy. The Commissioners then applied that new framework to calculate that, for Kentucky Power customers, the value for that credit is just twelve percent below what it would have been under the old policy.  

As the cost of building clean energy systems drops lower and lower, Kentucky’s electric utilities have the opportunity to meaningfully shift their energy mix away from fossil fuels and towards affordable, renewable energy–if only they would take it. This question is playing out right now at the Kentucky Municipal Energy Agency (KYMEA), a wholesale supplier that provides energy to several cities and towns across Kentucky. 

The KYMEA is developing an Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) to determine how to meet its customer’s energy needs over the coming 10 – 20 years. In the process, it is considering whether to invest in new coal or natural gas power contracts to serve its municipal members. These potential investments would pose a significant financial risk to KYMEA’s member-communities, in addition to negative environmental and public health implications.

If you or someone you know live in a KYMEA member-community, your voice is needed to make sure KYMEA invests in a clean energy future, rather than risky fossil fuels.