KY energy customers could save $2.6B by 2050 by divesting in coal, report says
Phasing out Kentucky’s reliance on coal-generated electricity by investing in renewable energy and setting fuel-neutral policy could save ratepayers more than $2.6 billion over the next 25 years, according to utility advocates.
A study commissioned by the Kentucky Resources Council, Metropolitan Housing Coalition, Mountain Association and Earthjustice takes aim at a pair of coal-friendly laws the Kentucky General Assembly passed in 2023 and 2024. Those bills, the report said, hinder the Bluegrass State’s ability to transition to using a diverse set of power sources that could reduce electric bills while remaining reliable.
The policies set tougher standards for state regulators to phase out coal-fired units and established a commission to review fossil fuel-fired plant closures, including those that burn coal, oil or natural gas.
The Kentucky legislature’s preference for fossil fuels mirrors that of President Donald Trump’s administration, which has overseen a blanket shift in federal policy against offshore wind-energy production, solar grant funding and environmental justice advocacy.
The Kentucky Resources Council, a nonprofit environmental law and advocacy organization, and its partners are rolling out the research just weeks before lawmakers in Frankfort are set to gavel in a for a budget session where rising living costs are expected to take center stage.
The group said it intends to send a copy to all 138 state senators and representatives.
Modeling in the report shows places that use solar, wind and other renewable energy sources for power outperform coal-fired electricity in cost and risk.
“The least-cost option for Kentucky’s electricity future is one that transitions away from coal and avoids new gas-fired units,” said Ashley Wilmes, executive director of the Kentucky Resources Council, during a Dec. 11 news conference to review the report.
The Republican-controlled legislature in 2023 and again in 2024 abandoned a fuel-neutral regulatory approach that would put rules and even incentives in place based on performance in an effort to reduce carbon emissions and ensure fair competition. Instead, policies criticized by the report hinder utilities from exploring lower-cost renewable alternatives, KRC program attorney Byron Gary said.
Lawmakers created a standard whereby renewable energy is guilty until proven innocent when companies seek the Public Service Commission’s permission to decommission a fossil-fueled power plant, Gary added.
For its part in the approvals process, the PSC is barred from considering intermittent energy resources that include renewables and battery storage when determining what will replace a coal or natural gas plant.
“A guide star for all good law and policy is to be fuel-neutral and be responsive to the facts and the technologies and the economics of the time, and, for the most part, that’s what Kentucky law was trying to do before passage of these fuel-preference bills,” said Cassandra McCrae, a senior attorney at Earthjustice, an environmental law nonprofit and partner organization in commissioning the report.
Baked into the group’s modeling are reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants.
The report insists, however, renewable energies outpace fossil fuels even without factoring in future carbon taxes aiming to put a price on emissions to encourage reduction or fuel-risk costs that include sudden price swings, up or down, due to supply and demand imbalance, policy change, global conflict and other factors.
Fossil fuel-related jobs were excluded from consideration in the review of past utility-related policy, despite their historic importance to the Kentucky economy. The research emphasizes a least-cost alternative for ratepayers first, but there is a great deal of economic opportunity by embracing a renewable energy future, Wilmes said.
In April, Trump signed a suite of executive orders aimed at boosting coal production in Eastern Kentucky and nationwide by easing mining restrictions and reviving coal-company leasing on federal lands.
Similar efforts at undoing Obama-era mining restrictions during Trump’s first term did little to stem a bleeding coal industry giving way to cheaper natural gas alternatives, but it helped secure Appalachian coal country for Trump during the last three presidential elections.
An ongoing global energy transition has already eliminated thousands of high-paying coal jobs, particularly in Eastern Kentucky, where family finances, retail economies and local government financing have been hit hardest, Gary said.
“It’s unfortunate that folks have been left high and dry by that transition, but I think it’s important to recognize also that continuing to rely on coal now hurts the pocketbooks of every Kentuckian,” he said. “The same communities that were hurt by the decline in coal are now being hurt by the continued reliance on coal.”
This story was originally published December 15, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
