Mon Power customers are in line to get a small break on their bills, but it’s offset by a costly contract.
Mon Power is seeking approval from the West Virginia Public Service Commission for a slight reduction in fuel costs paid for by electricity customers.
The average residential user of 1,000 kilowatt-hours a month could see a 12-cent reduction, from $137.43 to $137.31.
However, that’s not as much as customers are paying for the company’s contract with the Ohio Valley Electric Corporation, which operates two power plants in Ohio and Indiana.
An expert analysis shows Mon Power customers have been on the hook for $10.3 million in losses from the OVEC contract from 2018 to 2024.
Mon Power has 395,000 customers. The OVEC contract, on average, has cost each one 31 cents a month over those seven years.
Mon Power’s OVEC contract expires in 2040.
An analysis by Devi Glick of Synapse Energy Economics found that Appalachian Power customers shouldered an even bigger share of OVEC plant losses: $328 million over seven years.
Michigan regulators stopped allowing Indiana-Michigan power to recover those losses from electricity customers. Ohio lawmakers repealed a controversial bailout of the OVEC plants that was costing electricity customers there.
Mon Power’s and Appalachian Power’s OVEC costs are recovered through Expanded Net Energy Costs, which include power purchase agreements.
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