Improving Our Service and Reliability for Less than 25 Cents a Day
Friday, June 8, 2012
Today we filed a request with the Kentucky Public Service Commission (KPSC) to increase base electric and natural gas rates. You’ll be seeing news reports over the next several days that provide an overview of the costs, but we wanted to go “beyond the numbers” with a video that directly explains why we request base rate increases in the first place, to better articulate how the whole rate-making process works, and to reaffirm our commitment to serving you, our customer.
We know that any increase in your monthly energy bill will impact your wallet and your family’s budget. That’s why we don’t go before the KPSC with such requests unless it’s absolutely necessary.
In our case, we’ve invested more than $1 billion over the last 29 months to improve reliability and service we provide to more than 1.2 million customers. From adding new generation to meet growing and continued customer energy demands to making electric and natural gas system enhancements, we’ve undertaken more than 4,000 projects across our service territory to keep the energy flowing safely and reliably.
If approved by the KPSC, the impact of our base rate increase request would amount to less than 25 cents per day, beginning January of next year.
In addition, LG&E is requesting a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity for a proposed five-year natural gas line program, similar to what many other gas utilities around the country have done, to relieve customers from the responsibility of maintaining the part of the gas infrastructure called the “riser” – the pipe from the ground to the meter – and allow LG&E to make necessary repairs on it. As part of the program, LG&E would proactively replace certain gas risers and take ownership of the natural gas line segment that runs from the customer property line to the LG&E gas meter.
The costs associated with this program and the continuation of the gas main replacement project would be recovered under a new rate mechanism called a “gas line tracker,” which would appear as a separate line item on LG&E natural gas customers’ bills. The initial cost associated with the gas line tracker would be approximately $2.35 per month beginning 2013.
The video below provides additional insights into the main reasons behind our request and how it will impact you. We also have information on our website with answers to some of your most frequently asked questions. And, feel free to leave your questions on our blog and we’ll address them in future posts.
This is just the first step of an open and transparent process. We’ll keep you up-to-date every step of the way. We want to provide the same service for everyone — the very best possible.
