Policies matter: The cost of government regulations

Kentucky’s policy-makers have a long tradition of supporting low energy costs and highly reliable electric service. Our cooperatives are committed to that mission.

But in the past few years, U.S. federal government regulators are forcing policies that will lead to much higher costs for electricity in Kentucky and other common-sense states. How much higher? Residents of California and Massachusetts pay more than double for their electricity because policy-makers there have aggressively closed reliable power plants and forced rapid transition to renewables and other expensive energy sources.

Federal government regulators want Kentucky residents to pay those kinds of prices for their electricity. To reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) from just one of our power plants, the federal EPA says it is reasonable for Kentuckians to pay $10.7 billion to capture and transport the CO2—effectively doubling your rates.

That’s not fair to Kentucky or our members. We are committed to finding affordable ways to reduce CO2 emissions and maintain reliable service.

We are fighting for you. With electric cooperatives across the nation, we are challenging these radical regulations in the courts.

The fact is, Kentucky’s power producers have been reducing CO2 emissions for over a decade, and that will continue.

With time, technology and common sense, we will lower power plant CO2 and keep the lights on at a cost everybody can afford.

But EPA is forcing the issue. EPA’s strategy has been to overwhelm power producers with a flood of regulations to drive up costs on dependable sources like coal and natural gas. EPA is forcing these regulations at a much more rapid pace than in the past because they want a quick transition to renewables, regardless of the cost.

We are committed to transitioning at a pace that makes sense for Kentucky because we understand our cooperative members pay the costs of these misguided policies.