Last month, on a frigid day in front of the state capitol building in Frankfort, advocates called on Democratic Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear to halt residential utility disconnections through the winter via executive order.  These groups, including the environmental advocacy nonprofit Kentucky Conse rvation Committee and Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, which supports policies and action for working-class families, cited the need for a moratorium because of an uncertain future for federal housing, food and heating assistance and rising costs faced by Kentuckians.  Beshear did not heed those calls, saying he didn’t have the power to issue a moratorium. The governor is now calling for the creation of a $75 million fund in the upcoming two-year state budget to help low-income Kentuckians with rising electricity costs.  In December, advocates at the state capitol in Frankfort called on Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear to issue a moratorium on utility disconnections. (Provided) Proponents see the moratorium as a temporary solution to a larger issue: the need for utility disconnection protections in state law during unsafe weather conditions regardless of how far behind customers fall on bills.  “The moratorium was a push for an immediate protection to be put in place while we wait for the legislature to put in those permanent protections,” said Cara Cooper, the coordinator for Kentuckians for Energy Democracy, a campaign backed by the advocacy groups. “We’ve been working, along with a lot of other allies, for the past several years to try to put this disconnection protection bill through.”  Forty-two states have policies surrounding utility disconnections in cold weather, and 19 states have policies in hot weather, according to a summary of policies on a federal data clearinghouse. Kentucky has neither. Cooper said what kind of internal disconnection plans each utility has during extremely cold or extremely hot weather can depend on the utility, and some are not publicly accessible.  “We need everyone to have the same protections across the state, because no matter where you live or who your utility provider happens to be … everyone deserves the same protections,” Cooper said.  Bills filed this legislative session Bills in past years to create such standards in state law, primarily with support from Democrats who are a superminority in the state legislature, have not received a committee hearing. But this year, Republican Rep. Susan Witten of Louisville is the primary sponsor of the bill to create utility disconnection standards.  Rep. Susan Witten, R-Louisville, speaks at a press conference advocating on housing issues earlier this month. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Liam Niemeyer) Witten, the co-chair of a task force that focused on housing issues last year, told the Lantern that House Bill 377 is about tackling the broader scope of issues connected to housing affordability.  “Housing is not just the building. It’s everything that is required,” Witten said. If Kentuckians are facing extreme heat or cold, she said, then she thought utility disconnections “would just be the right thing to do.”  Witten said she would try to “champion” the bill, which is assigned to the House Natural Resources and Energy Committee, this session. HB 377 would prevent gas and electric utilities from disconnecting residential service in situations including:  When the National Weather Service forecasts temperatures to be 32 degrees Fahrenheit or lower over a 72-hour timespan; disconnection would also be prohibited if temperatures are forecasted to be 95 degrees Fahrenheit or higher.  When a residential ratepayer has entered into a payment plan and paid at least 10% of their accrued utility bill or $200, whatever amount is less.  When someone has received a “certificate of need” from a physician or a community or faith-based organization that shows a utility disconnection would “threaten the health and safety of the customer or the occupants of the customer’s household.”  The bill would only allow utilities to disconnect service between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday; disconnections would be prohibited on Fridays, weekends and state and federal holidays.  The legislation would also specify how utilities would give a final notice before a disconnection, along with requiring a utility to reconnect someone within 24 hours if they make a payment of at least 10% of an accrued bill and enter into a payment plan.  Rep. Lisa Willner, D-Louisville, who sponsored a similar bill last year and is co-sponsoring Witten’s bill, said that cutting off utility service “could be the beginning of a cycle of being unhoused for people.”  “I think representatives in general were more sensitive to concerns people [are] expressing about utility bills,” Willner said. “I think frontline workers dealing with families in distress over utility cut-offs are seeing this as a very real problem.”  The response from utilities Utilities in Kentucky generally say they already have internal policies in place on when and how utility disconnections are conducted, with some concerned that having state requirements would restrict their flexibility to respond to case-by-case situations.  Joe Arnold, the spokesperson for Kentucky Electric Cooperatives, which represents 26 nonprofit electricity distribution cooperatives in the state, said in an emailed statement that the organization opposes legislation that “imposes a one-size-fits-all mandate and interferes with the long-standing relationship between cooperatives and their members.”  “Electric cooperatives already have policies in place to address extreme weather, medical needs, and hardship situations, and members have existing avenues for assistance or intervention” through the state utility regulator Kentucky Public Service Commission and the attorney general, Arnold said.  Arnold also cautioned that “prescriptive disconnection policies” could limit flexibility for utilities to work out payment plans and shift costs to other ratepayers. Utilities have typically petitioned regulators to recover the costs of unpaid utility bills through the broader rate base.   A substation for electric utility Kentucky Power in Letcher County. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Liam Niemeyer). Kentucky Power, an investor-owned electric utility serving 162,000 customers across 20 Eastern Kentucky counties, had adopted utility disconnection protections in 2024 as a part of a settlement agreement with interested groups before Kentucky Public Service Commission.  Those standards include only disconnecting residential customers between 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 8 a.m. to noon on Friday. Kentucky Power also does not disconnect residential customers for 24 hours following temperatures that are forecast to be 32 degrees Fahrenheit or below or 95 degrees Fahrenheit or higher.  Sarah Lynch, a Kentucky Power spokesperson, said the utility’s state-regulator approved tariffs already include “strong disconnection protections” and are “more permissive” than proposed legislation.  “Our philosophy is that disconnections are a last resort for our customers,” Lynch said. “Customers who may be struggling to pay their bill are encouraged to contact us early so we can help identify available options.”  Lynch said while the utility supports “reasonable customer protections,” any policy needs to be flexible to address emergency situations. The language of HB 377 clarifies that the limitations put on utility disconnections doesn’t apply in situations “to protect the health and safety of the public.” The sign outside one of the corporate offices for utility Louisville Gas and Electric and Kentucky Utilities. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Liam Niemeyer) A spokesperson for Kentucky’s largest electric utility in terms of customers served said it already has guidelines in place that suspend disconnections when “extreme temperatures” are forecast by the National Weather Service over a 24-hour period.  Drew Gardner, a spokesperson for Louisville Gas and Electric and Kentucky Utilities, which serves more than 1.3 million customers, said the guidelines are in place for times when “temperatures are forecasted to remain below freezing and we suspend service disconnections.”  “It’s important to keep in mind, though, that out of an abundance of caution, we’ll still disconnect service when there are unsafe conditions,” Gardner said, referring to situations such as a gas leak at a residence.  Yet Cooper, the coordinator for Kentuckians for Energy Democracy, said, despite the policies utilities have, advocates have heard stories of people being disconnected in below-freezing temperatures. She said she’s talked personally with people who have made partial payments on utility bills and have been disconnected. Another person she’s talked with wasn’t aware about an impending disconnection until after coming home from picking up kids from school.  “She had no idea that her power was going to be shut off. She had pets in the home. She had food in the fridge. So it absolutely is a problem,” Cooper said. “These are just minimum safety standards that we need to see from our utilities.” Sen. Cassie Chambers Armstrong, D-Louisville, also wants to make utilities’ internal plans on disconnections during severe weather to be publicly available through her Senate Bill 88.  Armstrong said requiring utilities to post the plans on the Kentucky Public Service Commission’s website will hopefully incentivize utilities to strengthen their protections.  Armstrong also supports HB 377, saying her bill and Witten’s could pair well together.  “You can both have legislation that says, ‘These are the rules,’ and have legislation that says, ‘Now make a plan that complies with those rules and make it publicly available for folks,’” Armstrong said.  She said utilities could choose to exceed minimum protections set in state law if they choose. Utility disconnections during extreme weather, she said, are situations where “people can die.”  “People can die because they freeze to death. People can die because they have a heat stroke,” Chambers Armstrong said. “I hear advocates talk about this and talk about the clients they serve and the experiences they have with vulnerable populations that are going to be harmed. I believe them.”  The post Kentucky lawmakers renew push to establish statewide residential utility disconnection protections appeared first on The Lexington Times. ...read more read less