PSC Consumer Advocate: Revisit Appalachian Power’s ‘Bloated’ Coal Supply

The West Virginia Public Service Commission’s consumer advocate is asking the commission to take another look at Appalachian Power’s coal supply.

The consumer advocate says Appalachian Power’s coal inventory remains “bloated” and projects it will continue to cost electricity customers more than necessary.

It wants the PSC to reconsider its decision last month to not reprimand the company for ordering too much coal at high prices and burning it at a loss to customers.

“Customers should be insulated from the companies’ imprudence,” the Consumer Advocate Division wrote in a filing last week. “The companies and their parent should not be permitted to unreasonably profit from it.”

An expert witness testified to the commission that Appalachian Power lost $81 million in the 12 months ending in February at its Amos, Mountaineer and Mitchell plants.

The company says it cannot let its coal piles grow too large for worker safety reasons, and running the plants when they can’t make money is a way to prevent that.

Breaking contracts with coal suppliers could cost customers more, it says.

The commission last month denied Appalachian Power’s application to raise rates.

A West Virginia Public Broadcasting story earlier this month showed Appalachian Power customers are on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars in losses from the Ohio Valley Electric Corporation.

OVEC’s coal plants are in Jefferson County, Indiana, and Gallia County, Ohio.

If nothing changes, they will send power to West Virginia and Virginia through 2040. An expert analysis showed they cost Appalachian Power’s customers $328 million more than necessary from 2018 to 2024.

The Public Service Commission declined to address the issue in a 2019 order.