More Coal To Make Electricity Could Mean Higher Bills In Coal Country

President Donald Trump wants the country to use more coal, a fuel utilities have turned away from in recent decades. One exception: West Virginia, which produces and consumes a lot of coal. That’s made electricity more expensive there. Some residents have turned to alternative ways to power and heat their homes.

Mary West is an Army veteran who lives in Beckley, in southern West Virginia’s coalfield. She used to work in the mines locally, in about 1980.

West called it hard and dangerous work. An injury put an end to her brief career in mining.

“They released me to go back to work, and I told them I was not going to go back, because the Lord hid it underground for a reason, and didn’t intend for my crazy butt to keep going down there, finding it,” she said.

Her past in coal isn’t obvious when looking at her red-brick home. The roof is lined with solar panels. Most months, she pays nothing for electricity. 

For others, it’s a struggle. Tom Moseley is a retired postal worker.

“Most families in Raleigh County are living to pay bills,” he said. “They can’t go out and enjoy life. They can’t go out and spend money at the movies. Every dollar they make is to pay their bills.” 

‘They’re Too Expensive’

86% of West Virginia’s power comes from coal. But coal has become one of the most expensive ways to generate electricity. That’s why West Virginia ranks 49th in the country in electricity affordability in a review of 2020 data.

Trump wants the country to increase coal production, save coal-fired power plants from retirement and reopen closed ones.

Chris Hamilton is president of the West Virginia Coal Association. He wants the state to double its coal production to a level it had before natural gas displaced coal.  

“We think under this new political leadership and with the industries and government working hand in hand,” he said, “we can get back to that 165 million tons of coal.”

He says with power plants burning more coal, they should become more efficient, which in turn could lower electricity costs.

Other state leaders say coal is needed to power the growth of data centers. West Virginia Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito was at the White House when Trump championed coal.

“It also helps us with that baseload energy that we so much need when we hear about energy shortages for AI, data centers and the creation of a more electrified economy,” she said.

So far, West Virginia’s major utilities haven’t committed to using more coal, saying it could raise costs for customers. They say new electricity demand would be met with natural gas or wind and solar.

Dennis Wamsted, an analyst at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis. He says Trump’s policies, at most, delay the closure of some coal fired power plants. 

Utilities plan for the next 40 years, he says, not the next four.

“I do not see a coal plant, a new coal plant ever being built in the United States,” Wamsted said. “They’re too expensive.”

A $500 Bill

The major utility in southern West Virginia, Appalachian Power, is asking regulators to raise rates to make up for inflation and storm repair costs. Residents, meanwhile, are finding ways to save money.

Gary Bolen, a disabled Navy veteran who lives on a fixed income, tries to use power sparingly.

“I keep my thermostat set at 65 so I don’t have a power bill that high,” he said.

And he switched his heating source.

“I had to transfer it over to gas because the electric heat was running way too high,” Bolen said. “At one time, I had a $500 bill.”

West, the former coal miner, says she’d encourage anyone to switch to solar in West Virginia.

“Well, you know, God’s sun is out every day,” she said.

State regulators will consider Appalachian Power’s rate increase this summer.