Rate increases for KU and LG&E customers finalized

The cost of electricity for customers of Kentucky Utilities and Louisville Gas & Electric is going up July 1, but the increases will be slightly less than proposed in a recent settlement between the utilities and the attorney general’s office.

The state Public Service Commission, which oversees utilities, announced Thursday that it has revised the May 1 settlement, reducing the rate hikes.

For KU residential customers, the average monthly bill will increase from $115.33 to $119.18. The previous settlement would have put that rate at $120.28.

For LG&E residential customers, the average monthly bill will increase from $93.42 to $99.84; the average monthly bill for natural gas will increase from $29.28 to $36.26.

The increases will boost KU’s revenue by $50.5 million per year, or 3.1 percent. It will increase LG&E’s revenue from electricity by $56.3 million, or 5 percent, and its revenue from natural gas by $6.5 million, or 2 percent.

LG&E and KU are subsidiaries of the PPL Corp. KU has about 516,000 electric customers in 77 counties. LG&E has about 403,000 electric customers in nine counties in the Louisville area and 322,000 natural gas customers in 17 counties.

The PSC made several findings that differ from the settlement agreement in the cases. Among those, it barred certain utility employee retirement benefits from being reflected in rates and also slightly reduced the level of authorized earnings for each utility’s investors, from 9.75 percent to 9.7 percent.

This story was originally published June 22, 2017 at 12:12 PM with the headline "Rate increases for KU and LG&E customers finalized."