“These meetings will allow the PSC to hear directly from the public as it prepares to consider whether the proposed rates are fair, just and reasonable,” PSC Chairman David Armstrong said in a statement.
The PSC intends to hear comments from the public which it will then study in order to make a decision about the rate increase and what exactly it should be.
“It (the comments) all goes into the mix,” Kentucky PSC spokesperson Andrew Melnykovych said.
He said most of the PSC would be in attendance for the meeting and that all those wishing to voice their concerns or comments would get that opportunity as time allows.
The meeting is not intended to be a forum for Kentucky Power Company customers to complain. Its purpose is for people to share their views specifically relating to the proposed rate increase.
Hazard Mayor Bill Gorman adamantly opposed the rate increase in a statement he sent to the PSC in February.
“My reasons for opposing the rate adjustment request are tied to the timing of the request, its magnitude and the lack of evidence that it is fashioned for the long term benefit of the rate paying public inside the company’s service area,” Gorman said in the statement.
He listed several reasons why he thought the rate increase should not be implemented, including the PSC’s lack of consideration about a “ripple” effect that would lead to predictable increases in other services throughout the region.
“Such a large increase cannot be absorbed by the customer base without additional severe repercussions for the average family in the service area,” Gorman said in his statement. “The city could not absorb those increases without passing the added expense along to its own customer base.”
Melnykovych said the PSC will consider many factors when deciding what the rate increase should be, or if there should be one at all.
These factors, including revenue needed by Kentucky Power, several financial calculations and whether or not the increase is properly proportional, will then be coupled with the comments received at public meetings across eastern Kentucky to give the PSC a better understanding of the big picture of rate increases, Melnykovych said.
“The comments will be useful for us to get the larger context of the issue,” Melnykovych said.
He said he doesn’t expect many good comments to be made at the meeting, but hopes that everything said will help the PSC make a final decision.
“People never walk into these meetings and tell us they want their rates to go up,” Melnykovych said. But, he said, they sometimes reveal things about the service they’ve been receiving that helps the PSC make a final decision about rate increases.
The public meeting in Hazard will take place in the auditorium of the Hazard Community and Technical College on Wednesday, April 21 at 5 p.m.
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