What is being proposed?

FirstEnergy subsidiaries Mon Power and Potomac Edison are proposing that their customers pay to build, operate, maintain, and accept liability for a new natural gas-powered power plant to be located in Monongalia County. If approved it would mean that Mon Power and Potomac Edison customers would pay more in electric bills to operate a plant to serve data centers. The cost of the plant is at least  $2.48 billion that customers would have to pay for.

What would it mean to Mon Power and Potomac Edison customers if Mon Power builds this plant?

Mon Power and Potomac Edison, which are both owned by Ohio-based FirstEnergy Corp., are regulated West Virginia utilities. Mon Power and Potomac Edison are essentially treated as a single WV utility, and the customers of both cover the utilities’ costs. All power plants owned by regulated utilities are paid for by customers (“ratepayers”) -  from the cost of building the plants, to the costs of operating and maintaining the plants.

So, the cost of operating the plant would be paid for by higher electric bills for Mon Power and Potomac Edison customers, even if the plant is never used or fully built. 

How much would it cost Mon Power and Potomac Edison customers if Mon Power builds this plant?

FirstEnergy has issued a notice saying the increase will be $1.18/month, but that is just how much they want it to cost at first. They want us to start paying immediately, well before any power is produced, with costs increasing over the years. From 2030 to 2045, FirstEnergy estimates an average bill increase of $20+/month, with a peak of an extra $25.33/month in 2033. 

So they want every single family who are Mon Power and Potomac Edison customers, month-in and month-out, paying an extra $20 for a decade-and-a-half, on average.

This calculation is based on usage of 1,000 kwh/month, which is a little below the actual average for Mon Power/Potomac Edison customers.

West Virginia families should not have to pay to build a power plant for data centers and certainly not $20 every month.

Do Mon Power and Potomac Edison customers need more power?

No. The power from the plant is not needed for the existing customers, and even normal growth in usage, in West Virginia. The plant is being proposed for one prospective data center. Without that new customer, there is not a need for a 1,200 MW gas plant. That one customer has not committed to anything. No signed contract. No binding commitment from the data center to pay for that power. No guarantee that the customer may even show up at all.

Without this speculative data center, any future need for electricity to serve existing customers is modest and can be addressed through far less costly alternatives. A 1,200 MW gas plant is wildly out of proportion to what existing customers need.

Are there other risks that come from building this plant?

Yes. There are many concerns that the estimated cost of this plant is too low. Mon Power put out a proposal for bids to build a new power plant in late 2025, but it determined that the costs were too high, so they proposed building it themselves. The quoted cost is quite a bit less than the lowest bid. This low-ball estimate suggests that there is a risk of cost overruns and that the cost to ratepayers could be even higher than what FirstEnergy says. Using the utilities’ own numbers, the cost is already too high.

Could FirstEnergy build a plant for data centers without using ratepayer funds?

Yes. FirstEnergy has several other subsidiaries that can build free-market (“mercant”) power plants. Those subsidiaries can determine whether it would be cost-effective to take on the debt, and build the plants. They would take the risk, and benefit, if it works out. 

FirstEnergy recently said that, even though there wasn’t much data center activity in West Virginia, the customers in West Virginia could pay for not just this plant, but another plant on top of it, and perhaps another one still. FirstEnergy wants its regulated utilities to pay for the plants because that shifts all the risk onto customers instead of the company and its shareholders.

What happens if the data centers don’t come or the plant isn’t built? Will customers still have to pay?

FirstEnergy wants West Virginians to start paying immediately for these plants, and to require West Virginians to pay even if the plant is never built. Under their proposal, they would be fully reimbursed by ratepayers even if they abandon the project before completion. The fact that the utilities themselves don’t want to be on the hook for potentially “stranded costs” hints that they don’t want to assume responsibility for these costs because they know a new power plant is a bad bet.

If the data center never arrives, we still pay— for decades. If the data center customer never arrives, and FirstEnergy decides to stop constructing the gas plant, FirstEnergy wants existing customers to pay. We should not be forced to bankroll a speculative, single-customer project, especially if the customer never comes.

Do we need this plant to make our electric service more reliable?

The service reliability issues we have in West Virginia have nothing to do with how our power is generated and everything to do with power outages, in some places for a full day each year, spread throughout the year. We need to do better.

If we want to have more reliable electric service, we should encourage the utilities to invest in improvements to the local distribution network, but also to facilitate customers’ self-reliance in energy: demand response, energy efficiency, and locally-owned power. 

If data centers are contributing to grid instability, they should fully pay to fix the instability they are causing.  West Virginians who work hard and pay their bills should not have to cover those costs.