KY Senate Pres. wants to reorganize state utility commission, add more Republicans
Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, isn’t happy with how things are going at the Public Service Commission, the group responsible for regulating Kentucky’s utilities.
Stivers said Tuesday he’s displeased with the retirement of coal-fired power plants and the fact that the three current commission members, all appointed by Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, have no Republicans in their ranks.
A new bill he filed Tuesday would address at least one of those complaints.
Senate Bill 8 would expand the commission’s membership to five members, giving the state auditor — currently Republican Allison Ball — the power to appoint two additional regulators.
The commission is among the most important bodies whose members are appointed by the governor, as it regulates Kentucky’s water and utility providers both massive and small. It’s also charged with protecting Kentucky utility customers and vetting power generation plans, utility sales and rate hikes among other things.
A legislative desire to dilute the power of the governor is nothing new for the four-fifths GOP majorities in the House and Senate. In 2021 alone, almost 20 bills were passed limiting Beshear’s power, and the Senate in particular has focused on adding oversight or moving gubernatorial appointments.
The three-member commission is comprised of Chair Angie Hatton and John Will Stacy, both former Democratic legislators, as well as Mary Pat Regan.
“I find this somewhat intriguing that the governor has not appointed a single Republican to the PSC that I know of,” Stivers said. “I guess there are no Republicans that know about energy.”
Crystal Staley, a Beshear spokesperson, labeled the proposal as “playing partisan politics” and “attacking” the governor’s appointment power.
“At no point during the (former GOP governor Matt) Bevin administration was there any attempt by lawmakers to move appointments to officials from a different party,” Staley wrote. “The stability of the PSC is important to the stability of our energy providers and ability of our families to pay their power bills.
“This is just the most recent bill continuously changing the PSC’s structure or operation or adding supervisory boards.”
Spokespeople for Gov. Andy Beshear, whose appointments to various boards including the PSC have had trouble getting confirmed by the Senate, did not respond to a request for comment on the matter.
Stivers questioned the expertise, in particular, of Stacy, who holds a law degree and served as a county judge-executive after his service in the legislature, and Regan, who was a senior executive at AT&T.
The bill also sets out specific education and expertise criteria for certain members.
Two of the governor’s appointees, for instance, must have relevant education and five years of experience in various fields related to the utility industry. The bill specifies that current members who don’t meet that threshold “shall be terminated.”
It also mandates that no more than three members be of the same political party registration.
The Senate, which is controlled by a four-fifths GOP majority, retains its power to confirm appointments. For Stacy to remain, he would need to be reappointed by the Senate this legislative session.
“We want some criteria,” Stivers said of that portion of the bill. “I think Angie has done the best job she can do under the circumstances, but we’re appointing people who’ve never had or dealt with the realm… as much as I’ve dealt in it.”
Tom FitzGerald, a longtime environmental advocate in Frankfort who teaches at the Brandeis School of Law at the University of Louisville, said he was fine with the expansion of the commission given the body’s workload and importance.
He questioned the need to have the auditor appoint the other two members, though.
“To do so creates an unavoidable conflict of interest and function, since under KRS 43:050, the office of the Auditor is to be independent of the state agencies over which is has audit power, and is to be a disinterested entity representing the public’s interest in financial accountability in government expenditures,” FitzGerald wrote in a statement.
“That office cannot maintain the independence and disinterest that the General Assembly has mandated it have, if it is appointing two members of a Commission over which it has oversight responsibility.”
The Kentucky Resources Council, one of the state’s leading conservation and environmental justice groups, co-signed FitzGerald’s statement.
Beyond the composition, Stivers criticized the commission’s stance on the retirement of coal-fired power plants; Republicans interested in energy have recently railed against such retirements, passing a bill last year to make it more cumbersome for utilities to do so. He mentioned the retirement of Mill Creek One in Jefferson County and Big Sandy in Eastern Kentucky.
He urged a more “holistic view” that takes into account more than just rates when plants are retired.
“If you look at a broader and bigger impact… there is collateral damage to that area that has not been taken under consideration by the Public Service Commission,” Stivers said. “Instead of generation in Eastern or Western Kentucky, the generation is moved, the jobs related to (it) are lost. There is a secondary or collateral impact to the region, community economy that has really been adverse.”
Stivers mentioned disappointment at the retirement of Paradise power plant in Western Kentucky; that was done by the Tennessee Valley Authority, a body over which the PSC has no jurisdiction.
This story was originally published February 20, 2025 at 10:48 AM.
