Kentucky's Electric Cooperatives Address Energy Policy Task Force
12/06/2004

Kentucky’s citizens enjoy the lowest average residential electricity rates in America because of wise energy decisions and abundance of coal.

That was the key point that Kentucky’s electric cooperatives delivered in a recent appearance before the Kentucky Energy Policy Task Force.

In comments to the task force on November 15 in Hazard, KY, Dan Yates, vice president of government relations for the Kentucky Association of Electric Cooperatives, Inc., emphasized the benefits of inexpensive electricity to Kentucky.

“Kentucky enjoys the lowest electric rates in the nation, and there is no question that has brought huge economic benefit to our state,” Yates said.

Yates cited four reasons why Kentucky has such low electric rates:

• an abundance of coal
• the absence of costly nuclear power
• good utility management
• effective utility legislation and regulation

Yates then reminded the task force of the electricity deregulation woes experienced by California and other states in the late 1990s. He went on to point out that in the late 1990s the Kentucky General Assembly’s Electricity Restructuring Task Force “concluded that the electric industry in Kentucky need not be restructured.”

The Kentucky Association of Electric Cooperatives, Inc. is the statewide trade association that represents Kentucky’s 26 consumer owned, not-for-profit electric cooperatives.

To download a copy of Dan Yates’ remarks to the Energy Policy Task force, click here.

Kentucky Association of Electric Cooperatives, Inc. 4515 Bishop Lane * Louisville, KY  40218 502-451-2430 * FAX: 502-459-3209 Terms of Use