Energy Affordability
Our bills are too high. We all struggle or know someone who is struggling to keep their power on. Yet every couple of years utilities are asking for a rate increase or making decisions to build expensive new power plants instead of investing in energy efficiency to lower our bills. We can’t afford to pay more and we don’t have to. There are real solutions to making our electricity more affordable while ensuring that the energy system is resilient and reliable.
“Everyone should be entitled to safe, affordable, and reliable energy. We shouldn’t have to choose between buying groceries and keeping our utilities on. Just imagine if the utility companies cared more about us and putting us first versus making decisions that produce big profits.
Its time to speak up to find better way of energy efficiency and to hold the utility companies accountable for disconnection protection and investing in us.”
Sherica, Hopkinsville Electric Ratepayer
Why are our bills so high?
Our utility system is designed so that utility companies make more money, not to keep our energy prices affordable. Under the current system, utility CEOs and shareholders make record profits while we struggle to pay our bills.
- Instead of investing in energy efficiency or demand-side management programs which help us lower our electric bills and lower peak demand, utilities often opt to build more power plants or buy extra electricity off of a regional power grid, which is very expensive.
- Utilities are regularly choosing to invest in new fossil fuel plants or keeping aging, expensive plants open over lower-cost options, like rooftop solar, batteries, and virtual power plants.
- Utilities could even offer us inclusive utility investment options where we can get energy efficiency upgrades or rooftop solar and pay back the costs through our monthly energy savings.
Our utilities need to and can do better. Below are just a few methods proven to be a path forward.
Demand-Side Management (DSM)
This is a set of programs that allows electric utilities to manage and control energy consumption by consumers. DSM programs, such as demand-response programs, can offer financial incentives, education, or pricing schemes to encourage consumers to reduce their energy demand, especially during peak hours. DSM programs can provide benefits such as lower utility bills, improved service quality, reduced environmental impacts, and increased grid reliability.
Virtual Power Plants
A technology that allows utility companies to access and deploy a set of distributed energy resources (such as rooftop solar, home batteries, and smart appliances enrolled in demand-response programs) to work together to balance out the supply and demand for electricity on a large scale.
Inclusive Utility Investments
Also sometimes called “on-bill financing,” these allows utilities to invest in cost-effective energy upgrades for their customers and recover those costs through a monthly fee that is less than the energy savings. This is a great tool for allowing low- and moderate-income people access to improvements that will help lower their bills while taking away the huge hurdle of upfront costs.
Are you struggling to pay your power bill?
We all need help from time to time.
Bill pay assistance is available from a federal program called LIHEAP and is administered locally by a nonprofit called Community Action. You can also often find local churches who will help with utility bills.
To find out what programs are available in your area, visit our “Find My Utility” page.
Energy Burden in Kentucky
76% of Kentuckians think that energy bills are unaffordable
according to a 2024 survey that we conducted.
Energy burden is the percent of your monthly income that you spend on electricity. An energy burden of more than 6% is considered unaffordable. Many Kentuckians have a high energy burden, with some of our friends and neighbors spending as much as 12% of their monthly income on their power bills. (The average energy burden in Kentucky is 3% for all Kentuckians and 8% for low-income Kentuckians). Learn more on the Kentucky Office of Energy Policy’s Energy Affordability Dashboard.
Want to learn more about energy efficiency and things you can do around your home to save on your electric bill? Visit our Energy Efficiency page to learn more.
Utility Disconnections
Faced with high energy bills, low-income households will limit their energy use, including essential cooling and heating, which leads to health risks. Or they will make choices to prioritize their energy bills over other important bills like medicine or groceries.
Disconnections are especially dangerous for people who have health conditions, the young, the elderly, and those who rely on electronic medical devices or refrigerated medicines.
In Kentucky, our disconnection policies are set on a utility-by-utility basis. Which means it’s really hard for people to know what rights they have to protect them against utility disconnections if they have children, elderly, or medically vulnerable people living in their home OR when the weather is bad (extreme heat and cold). While many of our utilities say that they don’t disconnect when the weather is dangerous to do so, we’ve seen and heard of people being disconnected during those times for past-due amounts as low as $9!
Kentucky is one of only 10 states with no weather-related, state-wide disconnection policies.
Kentuckians for Energy Democracy advocates for commonsense policies that keep people’s power on, because everyone deserves a home that is safe and comfortable.
Did your utility disconnect you during extreme heat or cold weather? Click here to let us know.
Take Action
Here are two easy ways for you to take action for energy democracy.