KY utilities rush to sign Trump’s data center ratepayer protection pledge
Kentucky's major investor-owned power companies have signed President Donald Trump's Ratepayer Protection Pledge, a federal initiative aimed at ensuring energy-intensive data centers cover their own electricity infrastructure costs. This move is intended to shield residential customers from increased power bills amid growing opposition to large-scale data centers. The pledge encourages utilities to negotiate special rates and requires developers to fund necessary power infrastructure.
Kentucky's four investor-owned power companies—Kentucky Power Co., Duke Energy Corp., and PPL Corp. (which owns Louisville Gas & Electric and Kentucky Utilities)—have signed President Donald Trump's Ratepayer Protection Pledge. This federal initiative, which saw nearly 70 utilities nationwide sign on, aims to protect residential power bills from the costs associated with energy-intensive data centers. The signing coincided with remarks from Trump at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency headquarters in Washington.
The pledge, which is voluntary and lacks a federal enforcement mechanism, calls on data center developers to fund the power infrastructure needed for their facilities, rather than shifting costs onto residential customers. Utilities commit to negotiating special rates for large-load customers and investing in local workforce development. Cindy Wiseman, President and COO of Kentucky Power, stated that large industrial customers, including data centers, are responsible for their electric needs to ensure residential and business customers are protected.
Opposition to large-scale data centers is growing across Kentucky, particularly in areas like far-Eastern Kentucky, where some of the state's most impoverished counties face high electricity bills despite being eyed for major AI and cloud computing projects. The Kentucky Public Service Commission has negotiated individual large-load tariffs with most of Kentucky's investor-owned utilities. CoreScientific, an Austin, Texas-based developer with a proposed 150-megawatt facility in Marshall County, is one of the few data center developers with Kentucky stakes to have signed the pledge.
Additionally, the federally-owned Tennessee Valley Authority and wholesale power supplier Big Rivers Electric Corp. in Owensboro also signed the pledge. East Kentucky Power Cooperative (EKPC), Kentucky's largest power co-op, also signed, noting its existing tariff ensures data centers bear the costs of power and infrastructure. Nick Comer, EKPC’s external affairs manager, emphasized that data centers are considered 21st-century infrastructure that can bring jobs, investment, and tax revenue to Kentucky communities.