Groups Protest Appalachian Power Rate Increase At PSC

Before the West Virginia Public Service Commission (PSC) heard public frustration about rising electricity costs Tuesday, community groups held a protest outside its headquarters.

A couple dozen people could be heard chanting, “What do we want? Lower utility rates! When do we want it? Now!” ahead of a public hearing on Appalachian Power’s base rate case.

The company is seeking to raise rates, and if approved as submitted, the average residential electricity user will pay nearly $24 more a month.

Stewart Acuff, a former national organizing director for the AFL-CIO who lives in Jefferson County, told the crowd that the commission needs to put the needs of the state’s residents ahead of Appalachian Power’s parent company, American Electric Power. 

“These folks have a monopoly given to them by the state, and yet they ignore the common good at AEP,” he said. “They raise our rates higher and higher until it’s harder and harder to pay.”

Appalachian Power also seeks to reduce the credit given to homeowners with rooftop solar panels for the electricity they send back to the grid. Stewart drew a parallel to the resource extraction that took commodities such as coal away from the state, and with it, the profit.

“When they try to cut the reimbursement to residential homeowners with solar they are stealing from us,” he said, “and it’s the same old, same old, stealing resources, selling them back to the people, and the money leaves the state.”

Stewart noted that many residents, especially low-income and elderly West Virginians, have to sacrifice food or medicine so they can pay to heat and cool their homes. 

“It ain’t right for people to suffer when they get their electric bill,” he said, “it ain’t right for people to try to decide what necessities they cut to pay their electric bill.”

The PSC will issue a decision in the case before the end of the summer.