John Amos E. Power Plant, seen in June 2013, is a coal-fired plant owned and operated by Appalachian Power, a subsidiary of American Electric Power in Winfield, W.Va. (Getty Images)
The West Virginia Public Service Commission on Wednesday issued an order dismissing a rate case from companies owned by American Electric Power that, if approved, would have increased electric rates for 461,000 electric customers in the state.
The rate increases were proposed by Appalachian Power Company and Wheeling Power Company, which are subsidiaries of American Electric Power. It would have raised rates nearly 18% — $28.72 a month — for residential customers using 1,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity a month.
According to Wednesday’s filing, the companies failed to include crucial financial information in their rate increase request — including a schedule of their long-term debts, background on their parent company’s finances and information on revenue generated from surcharges, among other things — that is required for the commission to act on a tariff case.
Staff for the PSC, according to the order, offered the companies the chance to submit this information and avoid a dismissal. The companies refused, saying that they filed all necessary information. On Sept. 12, PSC staff reiterated that the application was incomplete and the information provided — some sent to staff after the initial filing — was not properly presented.
According to a response filed by staff, this is the third rate case that the companies have filed with the PSC without providing sufficient information. Without the complete filings, staff wrote, there is not an adequate amount of time for staff to review the case before they’re expected to rule on it in May.
“In this case, the Companies had an unlimited amount of time to prepare a base rate tariff filing,” the order reads. “The Commission and other parties have only three hundred days to review that filing … Because a base rate case of the magnitude of this case requires opportunity for testimony, hearings and briefing, the amount of time that the Commission has to review the filing and gain an understanding of the financial data underlying the requested revenue requirements is much less than three hundred days.”
PSC staff opted in the order to waive a requirement that the companies give a pre-filing notice 30 days before resubmitting the rate case, meaning it could be filed again immediately if all required information is included.
The 30 day notice for customers who would pay for the increase, however, still stands. That means even if a rate case were filed Thursday, it wouldn’t be able to take effect until at least Oct. 19.
However, since so much work has already gone into this case — there are several intervenors with a vested interest in the rate increase, hundreds of letters of protest filed against it and dozens of documents filed by both the companies and PSC staff regarding it — staff did offer an alternative to refiling.
The companies could petition the dismissal ruling and enter an updated, complete filing as long as the effective date for the rate increase is 30 days from when the finalized request is submitted, according to the order. This would allow for all submitted documents — including any letters of protest, testimonies or information from public hearings — to be used moving forward instead of having to be reentered.
The initial rate case was filed on Aug. 2 and would have, if approved, affected customers in 24 West Virginia counties.
On Aug. 15, the PSC filed an order postponing the rate increase until May 29 to “allow for further examination” of the proposal. The hike was initially scheduled to take effect on Sept. 1.
To date, 273 residents have filed letters protesting the rate increases. Many say their families can’t afford the hike. Most lament what feels to them like nonstop increases from the electric companies, which are compounded by rate increases from other utilities they rely on. Several voice concerns about living on a fixed income and worrying about having to go without electricity or skipping medications in order to afford their bills.
Appalachian Power customers have faced 14 rate increases from the company between 2017 and March 2023, according to the Charleston Gazette-Mail. 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.
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.
In July, the PSC approved a 1.61% increase for the companies’ residential payers — about $2.71 a month for those using 1,000 kilowatt-hours — for environmental compliance surcharges. That increase will garner about $35.6 million for the company and was reflected on ratepayers’ bills starting this month.
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