Century Aluminum, other parties file agreements with Ky. PSC

Century Aluminum of Kentucky joined Big Rivers Electric Corp. and Kenergy Corp. June 12 to announce the parties had filed definitive agreements with the Kentucky Public Service Commission based on the tentative agreement they all reached in April.

The agreements from the parties are the first step in finalizing the tentative agreement among them, but it still is subject to approvals from several third parties: the Kentucky PSC, the USDA Rural Utilities Service and other regulatory agencies.

Century's current power contract expires Aug. 20. The parties announced April 29 they had reached in agreement for Century to receive market-priced power for its Hawesville, Ky. smelter in Hancock County. Century issued a conditional closure notice at that plant earlier in the year, claiming it couldn't continue operations under its current price of electricity.

The notification was sent in compliance with Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act.

Century's Hawesville plant employs about 650 people, according to Century, and has a rated capacity of 244,000 tonnes of primary aluminum.

Century closed its Ravenswood, W.Va. plant in 2009, putting about 650 people out of work. The company was engaged in a lengthy special rate hearing with the Public Service Commission of West Virginia last year. The PSC issued its ruling, but Century has yet to act on it to reopen the plant.