About the Public Service Commission
The Kentucky Public Service Commission is a three member administrative body with quasi-legislative and quasi-judicial duties and powers regulating over 1,500 utilities. It is funded by an assessment paid by all utilities under the Commission's jurisdiction based on a utility's annual gross intrastate revenues. The Commission, created by the Acts of the 1934 General Assembly, the current version of which forms Chapter 278 of the Kentucky Revised Statutes (KRS), performs its regulatory functions through issuance of written orders, following adjudicative and rulemaking procedures outlined in Chapter 278 and administrative regulations promulgated by the Commission in Chapter 807 of the Kentucky Administrative Regulations (KAR).
The mission of the Kentucky Public Service Commission is to foster the provision of safe and reliable service at a reasonable price to the customers of jurisdictional utilities while providing for the financial stability of those utilities by setting fair and just rates, and supporting their operational competence by overseeing regulated activities.
Currently, the Commission regulates the intrastate rates and services of investor-owned electric, natural gas, telephone, water and sewage utilities, customer-owned electric and telephone cooperatives, water districts and associations, and certain aspects of gas pipelines. The following are some of the areas for which the Commission has regulatory responsibility:
- Rate increase or reduction.
- Expansion or reduction of utility service boundaries.
- Construction and operation of utility facilities.
- Meter accuracy.
- Operating conditions of a utility.
- Management audits.
- Valuation of utility property.
- Natural gas and coal purchasing practices.
- Issuance or assumption of securities by a utility.
- Consumer complaints.
- Compliance with service and safety regulations.
The Kentucky Public Service Commission (PSC) was created in Chapter 145 of the Acts of the Kentucky 1934 General Assembly.
Utilities under PSC jurisdiction include investor-owned electric, natural gas, telecommunications, certain water and sewage utilities, electric cooperatives and telephone cooperatives, and water districts and associations. The PSC does not regulate utilities subject to the control of cities, political subdivisions or those served by the Tennessee Valley Authority.
The Commission performs its regulatory functions through written orders following procedures outlined in Chapter 278 of the Kentucky Revised Statutes and administrative regulations promulgated by the Commission in Chapter 807 of the Kentucky Administrative Regulations.
Changes in PSC jurisdiction have included the removal of municipally owned utilities from Commission authority in 1936 by the Kentucky General Assembly.
In 1950, the legislature transferred street railways from the Commission’s jurisdiction to that of the Department of Motor Transportation. In 1964, the PSC's jurisdiction was expanded to include water districts; again in 1972 to include water associations; and in 1975 to include privately owned sewage companies.
In 1987 sanitation districts were removed from Commission jurisdiction. In 1994, the Kentucky Supreme Court in the case of Simpson County Water District v. City of Franklin, Kentucky, Ky., 872 S.W.2d 460 (1994), concluded that the Commission retained jurisdiction to review the wholesale rates of municipal utilities that provide service to jurisdictional utilities.
In 2002, the Kentucky General Assembly relieved the PSC of its responsibility to determine cellular telephone tower placement in jurisdictions with local planning and zoning authority.
Also in 2002, the legislature created the Kentucky State Board on Electric Generation and Transmission Siting. All three PSC commissioners are ex officio members of the board. The PSC provides staff support to the Siting Board. The board considers requests for the construction of non-jurisdictional (merchant) power plants and transmission lines.
Legislation enacted in 2004 placed under PSC jurisdiction the construction of any electric transmission lines of more than 138 kilovolts and more than a mile in length. The legislation created a process for public participation in the PSC’s consideration of construction requests.
The 2004 session of the General Assembly also enacted legislation that generally removed state regulation over broadband services. In 2006, the legislature deregulated most aspects of telephone service, with the exception of basic service and some wholesale transactions. The PSC retained its jurisdiction over consumer complaints.
Directions to the PSCDIRECTIONS TO PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION FROM LOUISVILLE(I-64):
Take I-64 to the Frankfort/Lawrenceburg exit (Exit 53). Turn off the exit onto U.S. 127 (North) toward Frankfort. Approximately 0.6 miles, you will come to the intersection of U.S. 127 and Highway 676 (third traffic signal). Turn right onto Highway 676 and continue through 4 traffic signals until you come to the 5th traffic signal (approximately 3.7 miles). Turn right onto Sower Boulevard. We are the last building at the end of Sower Boulevard (on the left side).
DIRECTIONS TO PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION FROM LEXINGTON (I-64):
Take I-64 Frankfort/Versailles exit (Exit 58). Follow U.S. 60 West (Versailles Road) until you reach the intersection (third traffic signal) of U.S. 60, Highway 676 and U.S. 421 (approximately 1.1 miles). At the traffic signal, turn left onto Highway 676 and continue approximately 1.6 miles until you come to the next traffic signal. Turn left onto Sower Boulevard . We are the last building at the end of Sower Boulevard (on the left side).
- Kentucky.gov Home Page
- Other State Commissions (via NARUC)
- Ky. Legislative Research Commission
- Department for Energy Development and Independence
- Kentucky Association of Electric Cooperatives, Inc. (KAEC)
- Kentucky Telephone Association
- Kentucky Relay Service
- American Water Works Association - North American Water Utilities
- Kentucky Geological Survey/University of Kentucky - Water Resources
- Kentucky Water Research Institute
- Area Development Districts
- Kentucky Rural Water Association
- Kentucky Infrastructure Authority
- Kentucky Division of Water