Tag: Mon Power

Utlity Plans Aim to Reduce Outages During Storms

West Virginia utility regulators have approved utility vegetation-management plans aimed at reducing power failures during destructive storms.

The plans announced Monday are for Monongahela Power Co. and Potomac Edison Co. The plans are part of a Public Service Commission of West Virginia directive in January 2013 requiring electric companies operating in the state to outline vegetation trimming programs for distribution and transmission lines.
 
The PSC says the plans are intended to increase electric service reliability during storms such as the derecho in 2010 and Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
 
Those weather events left hundreds of thousands of West Virginians without power, resulting in millions of dollars in damage and spoiled food, not to mention customer inconvenience.
 
Mon Power and Potomac Edison serve 523,000 customers in 27 West Virginia counties.
 

Senator Calls on PSC to End Electric Bill Estimates

Senate Majority Leader John Unger called for a change Thursday in the way a First Energy subsidiary is billing its customers.

Unger requested the state Public Service Commission order Potomac Edison to stop estimating electric bills for customers. Instead, he said the company should be reading the meters every month.

Complaints from Potomac Edison customers started rolling in last fall when PSC Commissioners held hearings in North Central and Eastern West Virginia. Customers complained of receiving estimated bills much higher than normal.

Unger also claimed the company is reporting missed or underpaid bills to credit bureaus, harming customers’ credit ratings.

Spokesman for First Energy Todd Meyers said both of their subsidiaries, Potomac Edison and Mon Power, are cooperating with the PSC on the investigation into their estimation practices.

He said the company is providing monthly metrics to the commission to track their progress on improving the system.

Meyers also said the company does not share any credit information on current or active customers.
 

Storm Knocks Out Power to 17,000 West Virginians

A winter storm has knocked out electricity for about 17,000 Appalachian Power customers in West Virginia.
 
     The utility’s website shows most of the outages are in southern West Virginia. As of 8:25 a.m. Monday, there are 7,900 outages in Mercer County and more than 3,500 in Raleigh County.
 
     Smaller outages have occurred in Cabell, Fayette, Greenbrier, McDowell, Summers and Wyoming counties.
 
     Mon Power reports scattered outages in northern West Virginia.

Group appeals PSC order approving billion-dollar power plant deal

West Virginia Citizen Action Group says it will appeal the approval of a $1.1 billion deal for the sale of the Harrison Power Station.

The Public Service Commission approved the transaction late Monday, saying it would reduce Mon Power rates by $16 million a year.
 
     The deal involves Ohio-based FirstEnergy subsidiaries Mon Power and Potomac Edison, and affiliate Allegheny Energy Supply.
 
     Mon Power is buying the 80 percent of the 1,984-megawatt plant that it doesn’t currently own. In exchange, Mon Power will sell 8 percent of its interest in the Pleasants Power Station to Allegheny Energy Supply.
 
     Opponents say the transaction is inflated by $257 million and is bad for consumers.
 
     West Virginia Citizen Action says that price markup ruling violates stipulations of the merger agreement and contradicts commission policy.
 

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