The Kentucky Public Service Commission has approved agreements that Century Aluminum of Kentucky says are necessary to keep operating its smelter.
The agreements allow the smelter to be supplied power purchased on the open market by Kenergy Corp. rather than power generated by Big Rivers Electric Corp.
The PSC said in its order yesterday that the agreements are substantially the same as those it approved in August for the Century smelter in Hawesville.
Big Rivers has a pending rate increase request to compensate for revenue it will lose when it is no longer producing power sold to the Sebree smelter.
In October, Big Rivers was granted a rate adjustment to compensate for lost revenue from the Hawesville smelter.