{"data":{"id":"us-ky/krs-278.264","jurisdiction":"us-ky","citation":"KRS 278.264","heading":"Commission approval or denial of retirement of electric generating unit --","body":"Rebuttable presumption against retiring fossil fuel -fired generating unit --\nEvidence of costs -- Report -- Definitions for section -- Recovery of costs to\nutility related  to decommissioning, removal and salvage, and depreciation\nallowed.\n(1) Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, the commission shall have\nthe authority to approve or deny the retirement of an electric generating unit owned\nby a utility. P rior to retiring an electric generating unit, a utility shall apply to the\ncommission for an order approving the retirement, and shall give the commission\nthirty (30) days' notice of the application. The application shall include a statement\ncertifying the applicant's compliance with the requirements of KRS 164.2807. The\ncommission shall enter an order approving, approving with conditions, or denying\nthe application within one hundred eighty (180) days of receiving an\nadministratively complete application.\n(2) There shall be a rebuttable presumption against the retirement of a fossil fuel -fired\nelectric generating unit. Subject to the provisions of subsection (6) of this section,\nthe commission shall not approve the retirement of an electric generating unit,\nauthorize a surcharge for the decommissioning of the unit, or take any other action\nwhich authorizes or allows for the recovery of costs for the retirement of an electric\ngenerating unit, including any stranded asset recovery, unless the presumption\ncreated by this section is rebutted by evidence sufficient for the commission to find\nthat:\n(a) The utility will replace the retired electric generating unit with new electric\ngenerating capacity that:\n1. Is dispatchable by either the utility or the regional tr ansmission\norganization or independent system operator responsible for balancing\nload within the utility's service area;\n2. Maintains or improves the reliability and resilience of the electric\ntransmission grid;\n3. Maintains the minimum reserve capacity re quirement established by the\nutility's reliability coordinator; and\n4. Has the same or higher capacity value and net capability, unless the\nutility can demonstrate that such capacity value and net capability is not\nnecessary to provide reliable service;\n(b) The retirement will not harm the utility's ratepayers by causing the utility to\nincur any net incremental costs to be recovered from ratepayers that could be\navoided by continuing to operate the electric generating unit proposed for\nretirement in compliance with applicable law;\n(c) The decision to retire the fossil fuel -fired electri c generating unit is not the\nresult of any financial incentives or benefits offered by any federal agency;\nand\n(d) The utility shall not commence retirement or decommissioning of the electric\ngenerating unit until the replacement generating capacity meetin g the\nrequirements of paragraph (a) of this subsection is fully constructed,\npermitted, and in operation, unless the utility can demonstrate that it is\nnecessary under the circumstances to commence retirement or\ndecommissioning of the existing unit earlier.\n(3) The utility shall at a minimum provide the commission with evidence of all known\ndirect and indirect costs of retiring the electric generating unit, as well as all costs\nand depreciation expenses recovered pursuant to subsection (6) of this section, and\ndemonstrate that cost savings will result to customers as a result of the retirement of\nthe electric generating unit.\n(4) The commission shall prepare and submit an annual report to the Legislative\nResearch Commission by December 1 of each year detailing:\n(a) The number of requests by utilities to retire electric generating units in the\nCommonwealth, the nameplate capacity of each of those units, and whether\nthe request was approved or denied by the commission;\n(b) The impact of any commission -approved retirement of an electric generating\nunit on the:\n1. Commonwealth's generation fuel mix;\n2. Required capacity reserve margins for the utility;\n3. Need for capacity additions or expansions at new or existing facilities as\na result of the retirement; and\n4. Need for additional purchase power or capacity reserve arrangements;\nand\n(c) Whether the retirement resulted in stranded costs for the ratepayer that will be\nrecovered by the utility through a surcharge or some other separate charge on\nthe customer bill.\n(5) As used in this section:\n(a) \"Dispatchable\" means a source of electric power generation that is available\non demand, that is not intermittent, and that can be adjusted to increase or\ndecrease its power output upon request of a power grid operator or oth erwise\nupon demand or request, or that can have its power output adjusted in\nresponse to market or system needs; and\n(b) \"Intermittent\" means:\n1. A source of electric power generation from a solar photovoltaic, solar\nthermal heating, concentrating solar th ermal collector, or other solar\nenergy collection or generation system;\n2. A source of electric power that generates energy by harnessing wind\npower or energy, whether through a turbine or other device;\n3. Geothermal energy, biomass energy, anaerobic diges tion, or combined\nheat and power from solar, wind, geothermal, or anaerobic digestion\nsources;\n4. Any short duration energy storage, which includes any method of\nstoring generated electricity for later dispatch to the grid, whether alone\nor in conjunction with any other intermittent sources described in this\nparagraph, that is equivalent to less than forty -eight (48) hours of the\naverage peak generation of the unit it is used to offset; or\n5. Conventional hydropower and pumped storage hydropower, unless the y\nare capable of providing energy on demand, in which case they shall be\ndeemed to be dispatchable.\n(6) (a) Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, this section shall not be\nconstrued as limiting the commission's authority to approve a utilit y's right to\nrecord and seek, prior to retirement authorization, the recovery of any electric\ngenerating unit's decommissioning, removal and salvage costs, and\ndepreciation expenses through rates over the electric generating unit's\nestimated depreciable life.\n(b) Approval to recover any costs or expenses under this subsection shall not be\nconsidered approval of, or support for, retirement or approval of timing of\nretirement of an electric generating unit in any proceeding considering a\nretirement application filed pursuant to subsection (1) of this section.","path":["KRS Chapter 278"],"source_url":"https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=57577","current_through":"Includes enactments through the 2026 Regular Session","vintage":"09/05/2026","retrieved_at":"2026-09-05T20:53:30Z","sha256":"00e2d92f1793e274d42b7dffb5d25abf53435060f7e77d377d4530c8a7808f86","source_id":"us-ky","stale":false,"prev":"us-ky/krs-278.262","next":"us-ky/krs-278.270"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}