Paducah Power reports clean audit; bitcoin-mining customers now supply more than a quarter of sales

Paducah Power officials told the Paducah Board of Commissioners on Dec. 9 that the utility's financial audit returned a clean opinion and that the system's financial position is strong.

"The audit opinion is clean," Doug Hanley said, adding that the utility recorded significantly higher revenues this year driven in part by two bitcoin-mining customers that now represent "over one fourth of the total system sales." Hanley said the utility treats those revenues as "outside the budget" so the system does not rely on them for ongoing operating assumptions.

Hanley described the utility's approach to the additional revenue: 10% of a distribution charge tied to those customers is applied monthly to the power cost adjustment that benefits all customers immediately; the remaining 90% flows into a rate-stabilization fund intended for long-term debt reduction or capital projects. "We take in a big deposit," Hanley said, describing contractual protections and cost pass-throughs intended to minimize utility risk.

The presentation listed two major substation projects: a recently completed substation with a cost of $5,000,000 and another under construction expected to cost $6,500,000. Hanley said the utility is using short-term borrowings with five-year amortization and expects bitcoin-related revenues to accelerate paydown.

Hanley also reviewed a fiber-to-the-home pilot and rollout strategy. He said the pilot produced roughly 100 customer sign-ups and that deployment choices will be guided by engineering costs and "take rates" in each zone: overhead electric service makes fiber installation easier than areas with underground electric service. Hanley said staff are now using a crowd-sourced online program to gather neighborhood interest and prioritize areas for expansion.

Commissioners asked for counts of fiber customers and how neighborhoods are prioritized; Hanley replied the utility has deliberately limited rollout scale so far and will use pilot data to select zones with positive cash-flow prospects.

The city manager and commissioners thanked Paducah Power for the report. Hanley asked the commission to "receive and file" the audit report, which was accepted during the meeting.

What happens next: Paducah Power said the fiber rollout will continue in prioritized zones and that the utility will apply bitcoin-related revenues to the rate stabilization fund and upcoming capital costs. No formal vote on utility policy was taken at the meeting.

Sources: Presentation and Q&A by Doug Hanley at the Dec. 9, 2025 Paducah Board of Commissioners meeting.