When the Lights Begin to Flicker: Power, Growth, and the Cost of Ignoring Limits
In Appalachia, decline rarely arrives all at once. It comes quietly. A notice tucked into a utility bill. A rate increase justified by necessity. Another explanation built on complexity. And slowly, life becomes harder to afford in the very places that once powered the nation. Across Eastern Kentucky and much of Appalachia, electric rates have climbed again and again—sometimes multiple times within a single year. Double-digit percentage increases, once unthinkable, have become routine. For families already stretched thin, electricity is no longer a background expense. It is a source of anxiety. The explanation offered is familiar: retired power plants, storm recovery, environmental compliance, fuel costs, infrastructure upgrades. Some of this is real. Some of it is greed. Most of it is a system straining under weight it was never designed to carry. On the surface, this appears to be a regulatory or economic problem. From a moral and prophetic perspective, it looks like ...