WASHINGTON — Kentucky residential electricity prices have declined by 7 percent since 1990, due in part to the state’s reliance on domestic coal for its electricity, according to a new study released by the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity. The state produced 93 percent of its electricity from coal in 2011.

The study also finds that nearly 60 percent of all Kentucky families spend an estimated 23 percent of their after-tax income on energy. However, the state’s poorest residents are hit the hardest by energy costs as households earning less than $10,000 a year spend 67 percent of their income on energy costs.

The annual assessment “Energy Cost Impacts on American Families” uses data from the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Census Bureau to analyze energy cost increases since 2001 for U.S. households. Energy costs include transportation, home heating and cooling and electricity. The findings are particularly timely in light of EPA’s newly finalized Utility MACT rule that, when combined with other pending EPA regulations, will increase electricity rates and other energy prices, especially in states that rely on coal for electricity.

“When government regulations increase the cost of energy, it is America’s working class who shoulder the burden,” said Steve Miller, president and CEO of the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity. “A typical American family is now spending almost twice as much for energy today than it did a few years ago. For millions of Americans living on low and fixed incomes, surging energy prices mean less money for other necessities such as food, housing and health care.

“The U.S. is fortunate to have abundant supplies of domestic coal that help to keep electricity prices affordable in states that rely on coal,” said Miller. “But new EPA regulations are making electricity and other energy sources unnecessarily expensive during a time of economic turmoil.”

The Kentucky-specific analysis, “Energy Cost Impacts on Kentucky Families,” written by environmental attorney and energy economist Eugene M. Trisko for ACCCE, is available at http://www.americaspower.org/sites/default/files/Energy_Cost_Impacts_2012_FINAL.pdf.

Some of the key findings for Kentucky include:

• Nearly 60 percent of Kentucky families have gross annual incomes of $50,000 or less, with an average after-tax income of $20,949. Kentucky’s unemployment rate of 9.1 percent in December 2011 ranked 11th highest in the nation. The median household income of Kentucky families declined by 3.5 percent between 2008 and 2010, from $41,538 to $40,062 per household. Kentucky’s median household income in 2010 was 19 percent below the U.S. median household income of $49,445.

• Measured in constant 1990 prices, residential electricity prices in Kentucky have declined by 7 percent, while the price of residential natural gas has increased by 26 percent. The relatively low cost of electric power is due in part to Kentucky’s historic reliance on domestic coal for most of its electric generation.

• Energy costs are consuming the after-tax household incomes of Kentucky’s low- and middle-income families at levels comparable to other necessities such as food and health care. Kentucky families spend an estimated average of 14 percent of their after-tax incomes on energy. The 1 million Kentucky households earning less than $50,000 devote an estimated 23 percent of their after-tax incomes to energy.

• The 475,000 Kentucky families with annual incomes of $10,000 to $30,000, more than one-quarter of the state’s population, spend an estimated 26 percent of their after-tax family budgets on energy.

• The 174,000 poorest families in Kentucky, living well below the federal poverty line and earning less than $10,000 per year, are being squeezed hardest by energy cost increases. Many of these families receive state energy assistance to help reduce energy costs. Yet for most lower-income families and for 546,000 Kentucky households receiving Social Security – representing 32 percent of all Kentucky households – rising energy costs are competing with other basic necessities for the family budget.