Dr. Kenneth C. Hill, a native of Morrison City (North Kingsport), was appointed to TPUC by Lt. Governor Ron Ramsey in 2009 and reappointed in 2014. He was reappointed in 2020 by the Honorable Cameron Sexton, Speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives.  

Since his appointment, Dr. Hill has served as Chairman of TPUC and is currently active with the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) and the Southeastern Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (SEARUC). He formally served as SEARUC’s President. He is a former member of the NARUC Committee on Water, the NARUC Committee on International Relations, and the NARUC Subcommittee on Clean Coal Carbon Sequestration.  

Dr. Hill is a former member of the Board of NARUC and is a former member of the International Confederation of Energy Regulators (ICER) and the ICER Working Group for Small Energy Consumers, as well as a former mentor in the ICER Women In Energy  Mentoring Program.

 Dr. Hill has been a presenter at the NARUC and SEARUC annual meetings. He has also been a presenter and participant at the National Association of Water Companies (NAWC) Water Summit, the NAWC Commissioners’ Forum, and the Emerging Issues Policy Forum (EIPF) (Energy) multiple times. Additionally, he has been a panelist at the NAWC Southeastern Chapter Conference, as well as the United States Department of Energy Industrial Energy Efficiency Conference in Little Rock, Arkansas. 

During his tenure with TPUC, he has also served as a member of the Tennessee State Information Systems Council; member of the Board of the Organization of PJM States, Inc. (OPSI); member of the Eastern Interconnection States Planning Council (EISPC); delegate to the 5th and 6th World Forum on Energy Regulation (WFER); and a Tennessee Team Member of the National Governors’ Association Policy Academy on Enhancing Industry through Energy Efficiency and Combined Heat and Power.  

Dr. Hill has been active in communications and broadcasting throughout his adult life, having been involved for more than five decades in virtually every aspect of radio. For the past forty years, Dr. Hill has been President and CEO of the nonprofit Appalachian Educational Communication Corporation (AECC) in Bristol, Tennessee. AECC is the licensee of WHCB 91.5 FM. Dr. Hill has also provided consulting services for nearly 40 years in the areas of technical writing and editing, public relations, proposal writing and editing, independent R&D documentation, government relations, corporate and business communication, media acquisition, media appraisal, and media utilization.  

He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Speech (Broadcasting) and History from East Tennessee State University; a Master of Science degree in Speech (Broadcasting) from Indiana State University; a Bachelor of Arts degree in Biblical Studies from Baptist Christian College; a Master of Religious Education from Manahath School of Theology; and a Doctor of Religious Education from Andersonville Baptist Seminary. Dr. Hill and his wife, Janet, reside in Blountville, Tennessee.

Executive Administrative Assistant: Ashlee Hatfield

Contact Commissioner Hill via e-mail at ashlee.hatfield@tn.gov