People rally against a proposed American Electric Power rate hike during an event in downtown Charleston last week. (Caity Coyne | West Virginia Watch)
A potential rate increase for nearly 461,000 electric customers in West Virginia that would have, if approved by the state Public Service Commission, gone into effect next month has been postponed until the spring, according to case filings with the PSC.
The rate increases were proposed by Appalachian Power Company and Wheeling Power Company — both subsidiaries of American Electric Power — and would have raised rates nearly 18% for residential customers using 1,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity a month. That would raise bills by about $28.72 monthly for families, according to PSC filings , while yielding a 15.4% increase in revenue — about $265 million — for the companies.
In an order filed Thursday, the PSC delayed considering the rate increases until May 29 to “allow for further examination” of the proposal. If approved at that time, the rate changes would be implemented on May 30, according to the order. The rate hikes, without the delay, would have been considered for approval by the PSC and gone into effect on Sept. 1.
The currently proposed increase — as opposed to most of those implemented since 2019 — is a normal base rate increase, which utilities undergo every few years to accommodate the increased cost of providing services. The companies said in a press release earlier this month that they have invested more than $1 billion in energy infrastructure over the last few years, which contributes at least in part to their need to collect more revenue from ratepayers.
The order to delay the proceedings came two days after the PSC’s Consumer Advocacy Division filed a petition to intervene in the case on behalf of West Virginia ratepayers.
According to the Charleston Gazette-Mail , Appalachian Power customers have faced 14 rate increases from the company from 2017 to March 2023. In the last five years alone, according to Appalachian Power, residential rates for electricity have risen from $128.09 in March 2019 to $169.93 in June 2024 . That’s a 32.6% increase in rates.
Just last month , the PSC approved the companies a 1.61% increase for residential payers — about $2.71 a month for those using 1,000 kilowatt-hours — in electric rates for environmental compliance surcharges. That increase will garner about $35.6 million for the company and will be reflected on ratepayers’ bills starting in September.
On Thursday, about two dozen West Virginians gathered in downtown Charleston to protest against the most recent rate hikes. With protest signs and a megaphone, they led chants and rallied against the rising costs of power in West Virginia while those driving by honked in support.
Among the protesters was South Charleston resident Linda Farwell. Farwell and her family moved to Kanawha County from out of state in 2008 for “a better life.”
“But since we’ve come here, it’s been absolutely nonstop,” Farwell said. “The increases won’t stop coming and it’s pushing us over the edge.”
Farwell said she understands that utility rates need to increase over time as maintenance needs arise and market shifts affect energy costs. She wishes, however, the increases were more “reasonable” and took into account the impact they have on families.
“If it were reasonable we’d understand, but this is year after year after year, sometimes multiple times a year, over and over,” Farwell said. “When I get my bill, every time I think, ‘what’s the next one going to look like? Where does this end?’ I wish [Appalachian Power] would stop gouging the public like this.”
Linda Childers, a newly-elected member of the Cabell County Board of Education and a representative of the Cabell County Democratic Party, said she was frustrated with the PSC and what she viewed as complacency over the constant rate increases. Those extend not just to electricity but to other utilities as well, including water and sewage.
“We pay some of the highest utility rates in the nation and we’re living in one of the poorest states,” Childers said. “How does that make any sense?”
According to a 2022 review of electric utilities across the country, West Virginians paid the third highest total household electricity costs as a percentage of their income. Alabama and Mississippi, according to the study from the consumer advocacy group Citizens Utility Board of Illinois, were the only states where prices outpaced that of the Mountain State.
And West Virginians are also stuck paying the highest average water rates in the nation at $91 per a month, according to data from the National Association of Water Companies.
These costs, Childers said, add up exponentially for individuals and families already struggling to get by.
“These are situations where you have people deciding whether they’re going to pay their bills or buy food for the week, whether they can afford life saving prescriptions and medications,” Childers said. “When these costs rise it really impacts what families are able to afford and if they can afford what they need to survive. That’s not right.”
And with a heatwave like the one occurring this summer across the state — which brought with it a historic drought — the consequences of increased electricity prices are clear for consumers, Farwell said.
“You cannot survive in heat like this without electricity. It’s not possible and it’s not right,” Farwell said. “It is too hot outside and we’re only going to see this kind of weather get worse.”
The sentiments and frustrations shared by Farwell and Childers are supported by at least 155 other electric ratepayers who have filed letters and comments with the PSC in recent weeks opposing the companies’ most recent rate hike request. According to the PSC, no comments have been submitted in support of the increases.
The letters — some submitted online and others in writing mailed to the PSC — document dozens of people concerned about how they’re going to make ends meet if electricity costs keep rising. Some say they’ll be forced to go without electricity if the rates are implemented. Others plead with the energy companies to consider the already rising cost of living for West Virginians who are struggling to make due on fixed incomes. All say they would be negatively impacted by increased electricity prices.
“Please please hear us and do not increase the electric!” wrote Almedia Casto, of Charleston. “We shouldn’t have to choose to feed our family [or] keep the power on.”
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