Dani Parent, Co-Executive Director, West Virginia Citizens Action Group, Charleston
Robin Blakeman, Executive Director, Energy Efficient West Virginia
Leah Turgeon, West Virginia State Director, Solar United Neighbors
For thousands of low-income customers of Appalachian Power Company and Wheeling Power Company (AEP), affording basic electricity service is a constant struggle rather than a given. In vast swaths of the company’s service territory, residents pay far more than the national average to keep the lights on.1 To make matters worse, there are currently two pending proposals to increase the rates of AEP customers.
In a public comment hearing on June 17 dozens of customers voiced their concerns, and thousands more have submitted online letters of protest, highlighting their inability to pay for high bills, let alone the increasing rate hikes being proposed.
While the average American household spends between 2% and 3% of its income on energy, many of AEP’s West Virginia low-income customers pay 8% or more of their income.2 Some of those households spend 11% or more of their income on utility bills—a crushing energy burden.
And now critical safety nets could unravel.
The Low-Income Energy Assistance Program (LIEAP) is in danger of being eliminated. The program’s federal staff was fired on April 1, 20253, and the President’s budget proposes to end this program entirely,4 casting serious doubt on whether help will arrive this coming winter, or ever again. The Administration dismissed these concerns, suggesting utility-run programs will pick up the slack. That might sound plausible in theory, but for AEP’s West Virginia customers it’s a fantasy.
The only existing utility-funded emergency program, the Dollar Energy Fund, (also known as the West Virginia Utility Assistance Program), may soon cease to be a lifeline for those in AEP territory who have previously relied on it. The DEF helps low-income customers with small grants pay their bill to avoid winter shutoffs. Between 2020 and 2024, AEP contributed $250,000 annually to the DEF, but AEP plans to end this support.5 Unless the Public Service Commission intervenes, there will be no DEF support for AEP customers this summer, or in our next extreme winter.
This erosion of support couldn’t come at a worse time. In AEP’s base rate case, one proposal - supposedly to help those with low income - would actually raise rates for most of the company’s low- and middle-income customers.6 The proposal would increase bills for most residential customers, while reducing bills for those who use more energy, yet another example of putting profit over people and saving money for the rich while leaving those who struggle to get by with the bill.
Let’s be clear: the current system is inadequate. The DEF helps an average of 3,328 customers annually.7 Yet by mid-March this year, the funds had already been exhausted, leaving nothing for people facing shutoff at the end of the winter. AEP averages nearly 47,000 disconnections annually, with only 42,000 reconnections.8 That’s roughly 5,000 customers left without power each year, and that’s with the DEF still in place for AEP customers to help avoid some shutoffs.
The situation is urgent, and two solutions are straightforward: AEP must continue—and increase—its annual contribution to the DEF. Additionally, our federal delegation and the Administration need to restore LIEAP funding. Vulnerable West Virginians need it to survive. Being able to keep your home warm in the winter or cool in the summer isn’t a luxury, it’s a necessity. Without immediate action from the Public Service Commission or AEP, the most vulnerable West Virginians will literally be left out in the cold.
The Dollar Energy Fund and LIEAP need to be restored. Something needs to be done for West Virginia families who can’t afford rising power bills.
Footnotes:
1 Data from the U.S. Energy Information Agency indicates that the national average monthly bill for residential customers is $136.84. https://www.eia.gov/electricity/sales_revenue_price/pdf/table_5A.pdf. For AEP’s WV residential customers, the average monthly bill is currently over $175. https://www.appalachianpower.com/company/about/rates/wv.
2Direct Testimony of Justin R. Barnes on behalf of West Virginia Citizen Action Group, Solar United Neighbors, and Energy Efficient West Virginia, Case No. 24-0854-E-42T, PDF pp. 82-85 (April 23, 2025), https://www.psc.state.wv.us/scripts/WebDocket/ViewDocument.cfm?CaseActivityID=640276&NotType=WebDocket
3 West Virginia Watch, WV Officials Reviewing Impacts Of Federal Utility Assistance Program Layoffs, (Apr. 4, 2025) https://westvirginiawatch.com/briefs/wv-officials-reviewing-impacts-of-federal-utility-assistance-program-layoffs/.
4 Letter from Office of Management and Budget Director Russell T. Vought to Senator Susan Collins, Chair of the Committee on Appropriations, PDF p. 11 (May 2, 2025), https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Fiscal-Year-2026-Discretionary-Budget-Request.pdf.
5 See June 17, 2025 Hearing Transcript, Case No. 24-0854-E-42T, pp. 127-128, https://www.psc.state.wv.us/scripts/WebDocket/ViewDocument.cfm?CaseActivityID=643671&NotType=WebDocket.
6Rebuttal Testimony of Justin R. Barnes on behalf of West Virginia Citizen Action Group, Solar United Neighbors, and Energy Efficient West Virginia, Case No. 24-0854-E-42T, PDF pp. 26-33, https://www.psc.state.wv.us/scripts/WebDocket/ViewDocument.cfm?CaseActivityID=642100&NotType=WebDocket.
7 These numbers are based on data provided by AEP. Barnes Direct Testimony at PDF p. 90.
8Barnes Direct Testimony at PDF pp. 91-92.