Tag: Mon Power

Mon Power Using Aerial Saws to Trim Around Power Lines

Mon Power in West Virginia is using helicopters with giant saws attached to trim trees across the state.

The company said in a press release Wednesday they plan to use aerial saws to trim trees along 700 miles of transmission lines through the end of the year. The effort is meant to help lessen the frequency of weather-associated power outages.

Holly Kauffman, president of FirstEnergy’s West Virginia Operations, says the aerial saw doesn’t replace conventional tree trimming methods, but it is an efficient, cost-effective tool that can trim more vegetation in a day than a ground crew can clear in a week.

The highly-trained helicopter pilots can hover and maneuver the saw’s multiple, 24-inch rotary blades to cut cleanly and rapidly through tree limbs up to 10 inches in diameter.

Electricity Rate Settlement Proposed

FAIRMONT, W.Va. (AP) – FirstEnergy’s two West Virginia subsidiaries would recover about $63 million annually under a proposed rate increase settlement.
 
     Under the agreement, the monthly bill for a typical residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt hours would increase from $92.62 to $99.52.
 
     Mon Power and Potomac Energy say the proposed settlement was filed Monday with the West Virginia Public Service Commission. It followed negotiations between the companies and the PSC staff, the PSC’s Consumer Advocate Division, the West Virginia Energy Group and Wal-Mart.
 
     The agreement includes a $15 million increase in base rate charges and a $47.5 million surcharge for vegetation management. If the PSC approves the settlement, the increases would go into effect Feb. 25, 2015.
 
     Mon Power serves about 385,500 customers and Potomac Edison serves about 135,000 customers.
 

Mon Power, Potomac Edison Work to Restore Electricity

Mon Power, a FirstEnergy Corporation utility, continues to try to restore power to customers in West Virginia following the summer storm that downed trees and wires in the region beginning last night.

Mon Power spokesmen, Todd Meyers says about 71,000 West Virginia customers lost power during the storm. Meyers says as of 3:00 this afternoon only 24,000 are still without power.

The company says customers lost power as the summer storm downed trees and wires. Meyers says restoring service to all Mon Power customers is expected to take several days. He expects 95% should have power by Friday night.

Mon Power serves much of north central West Virginia, and of those areas, the hardest hit included Parkersburg, Clarksburg-Bridgeport, and Lewis and Preston counties.

Scott Surgeoner, a spokesman for Potomac Edison, which is a sister company to Mon Power covering Berkeley, Morgan and Jefferson counties says just over four thousand in those counties are still without power, and he does not expect for those counties to be fully restored until Saturday.

Surgeoner says Hedgesville, Martinsburg and Berkeley Springs were hit the hardest by the storm.

PSC Orders Power Companies to Stop Estimating Bills

The state Public Service Commission has ordered Mon Power and Potomac Edison to implement monthly meter readings and billings following customer complaints.

The PSC released an order Wednesday in an investigation into the billing, meter reading and customer service practices of the FirstEnergy subsidiaries.
 
Under the order, the companies must implement monthly meter readings and billings as quickly as possible, but no later than July 1, 2015.
 
It also requires the companies to maintain adequate staff to perform the readings and to submit monthly reports to the commission through December 2015.
 
Citizens’ groups said customers complained about receiving multiple and contradictory bills in the same month, among other issues.
 
Mon Power and Potomac Edison serve about 520,000 customers in 37 West Virginia counties.
 

Mon Power, Potomac Edison Seek Rate Hike in W.Va.

  Mon Power and Potomac Edison are asking West Virginia regulators to increase the rates it charges its customers.
 
The FirstEnergy Corp. subsidiaries said they submitted the request to the Public Service Commission for the $96 million rate increase on Wednesday.

The request was filed to move the costs currently being collected for the Harrison generation transaction to its permanent rates. The filing also includes recovery of costs associated with storm repairs from the 2012 derecho and Hurricane Sandy, along with operating costs at power stations.
 
If the request is approved, the monthly bill for a typical residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt-hours would be about $106.79.
 
Mon Power serves about 385,000 customers in 34 West Virginia counties and Potomac Edison serves about 135,000 customers in the state’s Eastern Panhandle.
 

Supreme Court Upholds PSC Approved Power Plant Sale

The West Virginia Supreme Court has sided with the state Public Service Commission on a decision to allow the sale of a Harrison County power plant.

The PSC approved the sale of Harrison Power Station in October 2013. In the deal, Mon Power would obtain about 80 percent ownership of the plant from Allegheny Energy Supply and become its sole owner.

In return, Allegheny would receive about 8 percent ownership of the Pleasants Power Station, becoming its sole owner as well, and $257 million. Mon Power has said they will pass the cost of the merger on to its consumers in their electricity rates.

The Citizen Action Group appealed the PSC’s decision, saying the price markup ruling violates stipulations of the merger agreement and contradicts commission policy.

The merger agreement CAG cites includes requirements for Mon Power to increase employment, invest in economic development, aid low income customers, increase energy efficiency programs, as well as other stipulations.

In a written opinion Wednesday, members of the state’s highest court disagreed with CAG and affirmed the original PSC approved agreement.

The transaction between Mon Power and Allegheny Energy, both First Energy subsidiaries, has already closed, but Mon has not yet increased rates for customers.
 

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