Hazard Mayor Speaks Out at PSC Hearing on Kentucky Power Rate Increase

Hazard Mayor Donald "Happy" Mobelini stepped to the podium at the Perry County Fiscal Courtroom on Dec. 18 to address the Kentucky Public Service Commission directly, joining more than 75 Kentucky Power customers who packed the hearing room to challenge a proposed rate increase of nearly 15 percent.

Mobelini was among local officials and members of the public who delivered public comment at the session, which drew PSC Chair Angie C. Hatton and Commissioners Andrew W. Wood and Mary Pat Regan to Hazard to hear from the region's ratepayers. The hearing is part of an ongoing PSC case that is expected to be resolved by June.

Getting people through the door required some logistical help. Ward and Associates rented a bus, free of charge, that could carry up to 55 people to the Perry County Courthouse. The bus made three stops en route, including one at the Isom IGA in Letcher County. Tyler Ward, who works with the firm, said the stakes are concrete for his own congregation: if the 14.9 percent increase is approved, his church received an alert that its bill could climb by more than $2,000.

Inside the courtroom, a speaker identified as Fugate brought a stack of actual customer bills and read the numbers into the record. The comparisons he drew were pointed. A business in Corbin using 56,000 kilowatt hours paid $5,285, working out to roughly nine cents per kilowatt hour. A store in Hazard used 44,000 kilowatt hours and owed more than $8,300, nearly 18 cents per kilowatt hour. "Is that fair? No, that's not fair," Fugate told the commission. He also cited a residential bill of $306.64 for 1,840 kilowatt hours and a hangar at the airport billed $1,466.27 for 3,734 kilowatt hours, which he said worked out to 39 cents per kilowatt hour, before his remarks were cut off mid-calculation.

The commission has not yet ruled on Kentucky Power's rate request, and the case remains open ahead of the expected June decision.