Consumer Advocate Says PSC Should Say No To Added Fuel Costs

Appalachian Power’s rates have risen 45 percent in the past five years, the West Virginia Public Service Commission’s Consumer Advocate says.

The electricity rates charged by Appalachian Power and Wheeling Power have been higher than Mon Power and Potomac Edison since 2017 and have only gotten higher.

That’s what the Consumer Advocate Division told the PSC in a case where Appalachian Power is seeking to recover additional fuel costs from its customers.

Appalachian Power wants to charge the average residential electricity customer $2.13 more per month.

The Consumer Advocate has asked the PSC to say no, citing the “unbearable load” already placed on the company’s residential customers.

Appalachian Power is also seeking a base rate increase of 17%, in addition to other, smaller increases.

The consumer advocate says the average Appalachian Power bill has increased from $118 a month in 2019 to $172 today, without the proposed increases.

The rate proposal would raise the average residential bill by $28 a month, bringing it to $200.

The average Mon Power and Potomac Edison residential bill was around $137 last month.

Local governments, school districts and residents have voiced their opposition to the increases.

Meanwhile, Appalachian Power’s three West Virginia coal plants have been operating less than half the time and losing money when they do.

Appalachian Power has said it has too much coal on site at the plants, and sometimes it has burned the coal when not economically justified to draw down the inventory to safer levels.