FRANKFORT — Leaders of Kentucky's electric utilities Wednesday were guarded about their long-term plans for generating and transmitting electric power.

        They told the Public Service Commission that much depends on how and whether power companies and agencies in the Midwest and South, including the Tennessee Valley Authority, are grouped together to serve broad, regional markets.

        The combines would be called regional transmission organizations, or RTOs. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has let it be known that it wants one for the Southeast.

        Meanwhile, the PSC and Gov. Paul Patton's administration want to know whether the utilities operating in Kentucky think they can generate and deliver enough power to meet long-range demands.

        The inquiry began in early summer, when California was wracked by power outages. Natural gas prices were climbing at the same time, and power companies were filing applications to build 24 more power plants in Kentucky. The PSC is to deliver a report to Mr. Patton in December, shortly before the General Assembly convenes.

        “We feel RTOs are the solution to a lot of problems,” Travis Housley, head of transmission for Big Rivers Electric Corp., said when questioned in front of the three-member commission.

        Would Big Rivers join a Southeast transmission organization if TVA did? Mr. Housley was cautious. He said Big Rivers “would have to re-evaluate what it would do” if TVA joined anything.

        Another utility group, American Electric Power, is “constantly evaluating” how to ensure adequate power supplies, said Errol Wagner, the system's director of regulatory affairs. AEP includes Kentucky Power Co.

        Most of the 24 proposed plants for which applications are pending would burn natural gas. They are called peaking generators because they would operate only when demand was high. Their power would be sold on the wholesale market, so they would not be regulated by the PSC, which oversees only retail suppliers.

        Kentucky is an attractive site for the plants because it is in the Midwest power grid, and natural gas transmission lines crisscross the state.

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