by Curtis Tate
New testimony in an Appalachian Power case before the West Virginia Public Service Commission reveals Appalachian Power lost more running its three coal plants in 2024 and this year than it previously told state regulators, and the losses are forecast to continue into next year.
That’s what Cathy Kunkel of the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis told the commission in written testimony filed this week.
Appalachian Power is seeking to recover $71.6 million in fuel costs from electricity customers.
In April, company executive Jason Stegall told the PSC that the company had lost $40.5 million operating its three plants because it had to burn down excess coal.
Kunkel told the commission this week that the actual loss was more than double that figure: $81.1 million.
The cost of operating the Amos, Mountaineer and Mitchell plants exceeded the revenues the company earned from selling the power they generated in 10 months out of 12, she testified.
Coal inventories are expected to remain at maximum levels through 2025, she added, and the losses are likely to continue.
‘By entering into contracts for additional large amounts of coal for 2026, the companies risk once again driving forecasted coal inventories to levels where they would need to … uneconomically burn off excess amounts of coal,’ Kunkel wrote. ‘This is concerning given that the companies have already incurred more than $150 million of operating losses over a two-year period from such uneconomic operation of their coal units.’
Kunkel also took issue with Stegall’s previous testimony that breaking contracts with coal suppliers to bring down the inventory at the plants would have cost $300 million.
Some of Kunkel’s explanation, though, was redacted in her written testimony as confidential.
In Stegall’s testimony, the John Amos plant in Putnam County came close to breaking even. In Kunkel’s testimony, however, she calculated that Amos incurred the biggest loss: almost $59 million for the 12 months ending in February.
Kunkel calculated that the Mitchell plant in Marshall County lost $19 million during those 12 months and that Mountaineer in Mason County lost more than $3 million.
All three plants incurred an operating loss in every month except January and February 2025, during a period of prolonged cold weather.
A previous PSC witness testified that the plants lost $87 million in 2023 and 2024 for the same reason: an excess supply of coal on site.
Despite operating out of what’s called economic dispatch, the plants haven’t been running as much as they did in years past.
During the 12 months Kunkel reviewed, Amos ran with a capacity factor of 38%, Mitchell at 31% and Mountaineer at 44%. Each is a percentage of the power the plant is capable of producing.
Appalachian Power is also seeking a rate increase from the PSC. If approved, the average residential user’s bill would increase by nearly $24 a month.
If the PSC approves Appalachian Power’s fuel request, the same customer would pay $5 more a month on top of that.
‘If the companies had not over-procured coal, putting themselves in a position where they needed to burn down the coal pile, ratepayers could have been spared those additional costs,’ Kunkel wrote.
A public comment hearing in the fuel case is set for Aug. 11. The PSC will consider the evidence in the case on Aug. 12 and 13.