Eve Podet
308 Greenbriar Rd. 
Lexington, KY 40503-2636
Phone:
E-Mail:


Dear Commissioners:

I am a residential customer of KU. I write to oppose the structure of KU’s rate increases on electric service. 

If any increase is due, I oppose increasing the monthly service charges. KU wants to raise the monthly electric service charge by 53% (from $8.50 to $13.00) and the kWh rate by only 3.5% (from 6.987 cents to 7.253 cents).

Any rate increase should be put on the unit of energy (“volumetric pricing”), not the monthly service charge. KU already enjoys a monopoly and guaranteed profit. It doesn’t need a higher monthly service charge. Increasing the monthly service charge:

- Unfairly and unjustly lowers the returns of prior private investors in efficiency;
- Unreasonably discourages future private investments in efficiency;
- Unreasonably rewards wasteful users of energy;
- Unjustly and unfairly impacts those who use energy sparingly (i.e. – the poor,
the elderly and the efficiency-minded), and;
- Unreasonably impairs deployment of renewables and distributed generation;

In short, KU’s proposed allocation is bad public policy. A public utility with a grant of monopoly and guaranteed profit should not employ such a pricing structure. Please do not allow it, either after hearing or in any proposed settlement.

Thank you,
  Eve Podet