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.
Three Ways to Make Your Voice Heard on the FirstEnergy Gas Plant
NOTE: This hearing only affects Mon Power and Potomac Edison customers. If that's not your electric utility, no action is needed.
The West Virginia Public Service Commission will hold a public hearing on Wednesday, July 15 at 5:30 p.m. on FirstEnergy's proposal to build a $2.48 billion gas plant in Monongalia County. Projected residential bill increases due to the plant exceed $500 for the next five years, before it even produces any power. 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.
The PSC is offering two ways to participate: attend the hearing in person in Charleston or join virtually via Microsoft Teams from home.
Because many of the people most impacted by this proposal live hours away from Charleston, our coalition is organizing a third option to make participation easier.
Option 1: Join and Speak with Fellow Community Members in Morgantown or Jefferson County (Sierra Club and West Virginians for Energy Freedom Hosted)
Instead of participating alone from home, join neighbors at our two community virtual hearing sites:
Morgantown Public Safety Building
Training Room
300 Spruce Street
Morgantown, WV 26505
Wednesday, July 15
5:00 PM start time
OR
South Jefferson Public Library
Meeting Room
49 Church Street
Summit Point, WV 25446
Wednesday, July 15
5:00 PM start time
Option 2: Join Virtually from Home (PSC Hosted)
You may participate from anywhere through Microsoft Teams.
If you wish to provide public comment at home virtually, you must register with the PSC by 4:00 p.m. on Friday, July 10.
Register by:
Microsoft Teams: https://bit.ly/wvpsc20260715
Phone: Alexis Weimer (304) 340-0822 or Andrew Gallagher (304) 340-0820
Email: aweimer@psc.state.wv.us or agallagher@psc.state.wv.us
Option 3: Attend in Person in Charleston (PSC Hosted)
Public Service Commission Hearing Room
201 Brooks Street
Charleston, WV
Wednesday, July 15
5:30 p.m.
Anyone wishing to speak in person should sign up before the hearing begins.
Whether you join us in Morgantown or Summit Point, testify virtually from home, or travel to Charleston, your voice matters. This case could affect electric bills for years to come, and public comments become part of the official record the Public Service Commission considers before making its decision.
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. Projected residential bill increases exceed $500 for the next five years, before the plant produces any power.
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.
Help Bring the Public Hearing Closer to Home
The West Virginia Public Service Commission (PSC) has scheduled a public hearing on FirstEnergy's proposed $2.48 billion gas plant for July 15 in Charleston, with a virtual option also available.
This plant could increase electric bills for Mon Power and Potomac Edison customers for years to come, yet many of the customers who would pay for it live hours away from Charleston.
We're gathering information to show the PSC where interested customers live and whether there is demand for additional in-person hearing opportunities closer to home.
If an in-person public hearing were offered in your area, would you be interested in attending and speaking?
By filling out this form, you are not signing up to testify and you are not taking a position on the case. You are simply expressing interest in having the opportunity to participate in person if a hearing were held closer to where you live.
Please note: The PSC has not yet released the official process for registering to speak at the July 15 hearing. According to the Commission's order, that information will be announced at a later date. We will share those details as soon as they become available.
Add your name today to help demonstrate that impacted customers deserve meaningful access to this process and a chance to be heard!
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.