Co-op caucus powers consumer measure
Fuel Surcharge Stability Act is first bill to pass both chambers in 2026
Fueled by members of the Kentucky Rural Electric Cooperative Caucus, the first bill approved by the Kentucky General Assembly in 2026 is a unanimous measure backed by co-ops to help levelize energy bills.
The Fuel Surcharge Stability Act “is basically a consumer friendly tool to enable utilities to spread out over time the cost of fuel spikes that happen during peak usage in the winter and summer,” said the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Phillip Wheeler (R-Pikeville). “I really appreciate working with the co-ops on this. One of my main purposes here is affordability and reliability on energy, a goal I share with the cooperatives.”
Pending the signature of Gov. Andy Beshear, Senate Bill 172 is poised to become the first law passed since the legislature moved into temporary quarters during Capitol renovations.
Low temperatures in January reached the single digits for 12 days, the longest such cold stretch in Kentucky in ten years. As energy usage spiked, the price of natural gas, a fuel used to generate electricity, surged to its highest level in four years. For ratepayers, such variable costs are later applied via the “fuel adjustment clause” on a subsequent electric bill.
“The following month or months later a person gets hit with a bill on the fuel cost adjustment that is sometimes substantially larger,” explained Rep. Patrick Flannery, one of the bill’s chief proponents. Senate Bill 172 codifies the Public Service Commission’s authority to allow a utility to “spread it out over several months to make it much more manageable to pay the electric bill.”
Member-owned electric cooperatives work with the Rural Electric Cooperative Caucus, the largest bipartisan caucus in Frankfort, to support the Fuel Surcharge Stability Act and other common sense measures on behalf of local consumer-members.
“Co-ops are consumer advocates,” said Chris Perry, president and CEO of Kentucky Electric Cooperatives. “We appreciate the bipartisan allies in the statehouse who are actively seeking creative ways to help the people we serve and improve their quality of life.”
Perry urged any consumer-members struggling to pay their bill to contact their local co-op to discuss payment arrangements, levelized billing and other tools to avoid disruption in service.
“Senate Bill 172 will help co-op members avoid disruptions to their service,” he said.
“I don’t want to say that this is a silver bullet, but it is a step in the right direction to make sure that Kentuckians can have affordable, reliable electricity,” Wheeler added. “Our goal here in the legislature is to make folks lives a little bit easier and I think Senate Bill 172 does that.”
The rapid passage of the measure gives Flannery hope that Kentucky will continue to proactively address looming energy challenges.
“We’ve got to have the juice out there to meet increased demand,” Flannery said. “If we don’t have the supply, these bills are going to keep on going up. What we’re trying to accomplish with different pieces of legislation is to be sure that we’ve got more generation. And I think we’ve definitely got the momentum to make that happen over the next several years.”
