Bell County residents could be paying more for their electricity if Kentucky Utilities (KU) gets their way. The utility company filed a notice of intent to the Public Service Commission recently to increase their rates for residential houses by 13.54 percent.

That will come out to a $11.70 monthly increase on residential bills.

Utilities are required by law to go through the PSC, an independent agency attached for administrative purposes to the Energy and Environment Cabinet, who will then review their application and hold public hearings in the affected locations.

According to a press release from KU, they are requesting a $136 million base rate adjustment to cover the costs, for the most part, associated with meeting the growing demand for energy.

According to PSC spokesperson Andrew Melnykovych, KU is requesting the rate increase for two reasons:

To recover costs from storm damage during the 2009 ice storm and to pay for a new power plant that is going online this year in Tremble County.

Melnykovych said KU has only filed a notice of an intent to file for the rate increase so far. He expected that they would file their application on Friday. When it’s filed, those documents will be available online at psc.ky.gov.

Middlesboro State Representative Rick Nelson voiced his opposition to the increase.

“I think it’s outrageous,” said Nelson, “It’s too much. I think it’s a very bad time to ask for a rate increase.”

Nelson said that KU’s upper-management was to blame for much of the ice storm damage.

“The upper-management at KU caused a lot of problems during the last snow storm because they did not do a good job of clearing right-of-ways where power lines are,” said Nelson.

He said that the glut of trees on right-of-ways caused much of the damage to power lines.

Nelson said that fellow representatives in the state house were also outraged over the proposed increase. He said they were planning to have KU management questioned in front of committees.

The CEO, President, and Chairman of KU’s parent company, E.ON, Victor A. Staffieri defended the company’s decision in a press release:

“We understand that, in this sluggish economy, any additional costs are burdensome for our customers,” said Staffieri. “We are fortunate to have some of the lowest rates in the country, and even with this proposed increase, our rates will still be lower than six of the seven states surrounding Kentucky.”

The press release further states that KU, and its sister company Louisville Gas and Electric Company, “have invested more than $1.2 billion in additional generation and infrastructure improvements to ensure safe and reliable service. In addition, the utilities invested more than $133.7 million following two historic storms in 2008 and 2009. The companies are requesting that the costs associated with the fall wind storm and the winter ice storm be spread over the next five years.”

The PSC traditionally suspends the implementation rate increases for five more months in order to hold public hearings. A decision will likely come by August.

Stephen Woodward is a Staff Writer for the Daily News. He may be contacted at swoodward@middlesborodailynews.com.