Kentucky Biomass Incinerator would “adversely affect rate-payers”

Ken­tucky Bio­mass Incin­er­a­tor Would “Adverse­ly affect rate-payers”

- By Eri­ca Peter­son, Octo­ber 9, 2013 Source: Ken­tucky Pub­lic Radio

Lex­ing­ton-based ecoPow­er wants to build a bio­mass plant in Per­ry Coun­ty. The plant would burn wood scraps to cre­ate electricity.

The util­i­ty Ken­tucky Pow­er wants to buy all that elec­tric­i­ty, and the state Pub­lic Ser­vice Com­mis­sion will decide whether to allow the com­pa­ny to do so.

The PSC is tasked with mak­ing deci­sions on the basis of whether both the pro­pos­al and pos­si­ble rate increas­es are “fair, just and rea­son­able.” A bill passed dur­ing last year’s Gen­er­al Assem­bly directs the com­mis­sion­ers to give addi­tion­al weight to bio­mass projects.

Attor­ney Gen­er­al spokes­woman Alli­son Mar­tin says the rate increase out­weighs the ben­e­fits of biomass.

“The Office of the Attor­ney Gen­er­al is not opposed to explor­ing bio­mass options; how­ev­er, in this case, it seems this will adverse­ly affect rate-pay­ers,”  said Martin.

If the PSC grants the pro­pos­al, it will raise rates sev­en per­cent in East­ern Ken­tucky. That increase would be in addi­tion to oth­er pend­ing rate increases.