CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Appalachian Power customers in the state saw an increase to their bills as the calendar turned to June on Monday.
Appalachian Power announced May 12 that the Public Service Commission (PSC) approved its inflationary increase proposal of $4.84 per 1,000 kilowatts used, effective June 1. The approval was contingent upon Appalachian Power not filing for a base rate increase again until after June 2027.
Energy Efficient West Virginia Legal and Policy Director Emmett Pepper said this will negatively impact people across the state. He said any rate-payer gives utilities a “monopoly” in exchange for rates being justified.
Pepper said this latest increase to electric bills — he called it an automatic bill increase — does not have proper justification.
“Having automatic rate increases seems to be contrary to justifying their work,” Pepper said. “In my view, this is not the right solution. I think what there needs to be is to have more cost-effective utilities.”
Appalachian Power George Porter told MetroNews last month that the move will mediate “rate fatigue.” Porter said customers get frustrated with many different rate increases. Rather than the company continuing to go to the PSC for approval on individual rising costs, this move wrapped several base-rate requests into one.
Pepper said this hike is the latest battle for rate-payers in West Virginia to face.
“People have been struggling with electric rates for some time, and electric rates have been going up over the last few years,” Pepper said. “What we need is to have strong protections in place and benefits for folks to do something to reduce their costs.”
“We should be using whatever the cheapest sources of power are,” Pepper continued. “We are paying extra to run some of the power plants more often than would be cost effective. That should be the solution to this, to our continued rate increases.”
Pepper called for data centers to “pay for their own pay.” He said there should not be any cost to rate payers due to increases caused by data centers. He said there should be ways for individuals, small businesses, and families to lower their own bills.
Pepper sounded the alarm on the specific rate increases happening automatically. He said Energy Efficient West Virginia didn’t get a chance to review those proposed increases before the PSC approved them. Pepper said there’s a difference between what was proposed and what was accepted.
Beckley-based attorney Stephen New submitted a filing in state Supreme Court on behalf of Appalachian Power customers two weeks ago. New told MetroNews that he’d heard from residents in all 55 counties with concerns over the increase. New said West Virginia law requires rate increases to be “fair and reasonable.” He noted that is not the case, based on his review of information related to the hike.
Pepper agreed with New’s claim that the rate increase did not go through the normal process. Pepper said he’d like to see more residents in the state be aware of the issue and speak up with their thoughts.
“What people should be doing is to pay attention to these things, and to be engaged,” Pepper said. “This stuff can be complicated, but we do, I think, a good job of making it understandable through the West Virginians for Energy Freedom coalition, that has a way to keep in touch.”
“We let folks know about the different cases that are happening, how they can be part of that, how they can have their voices heard,” Pepper continued. “This is one specific situation, but all over the state of West Virginia, we’re seeing that our electric bills are causing a greater burden on families and small businesses.”
Pepper encouraged people to be proactive with increases to their bills. He said there are three key things on his mind: there need to be opportunities for people to reduce their costs, the state needs to be using the cheapest sources, and data centers need to “pay their own way.”
Pepper said lots of other states have more opportunities to do more and more protections in place.
“West Virginia ought to pass a rate-payer’s bill of rights,” Pepper said. “Other states have better protections in place, and even though they have higher rates, for instance, there will be maybe fewer shutoffs. Those are the worst-case scenarios, when people, especially in winter and in the heat of the summer, get their electric shut off.”
“We need to go through and make sure the protections are in place for our most vulnerable, the elderly, and also make sure that people can do something about this,” Pepper added. “People feel like they have no power over this, and there are opportunities, there are examples of other states where people can actually save money, and we need to be doing those things.”
Pepper mentioned a bill that was introduced to the legislature recently about the rate-payer’s bill of rights. He said many things were addressed in the bill: to make sure people have a better understanding of what is happening, along with having more public hearings and more transparency from the PSC. Additionally, Pepper said the bill called for fewer shutoffs and more notice about shutoffs when they do occur.
What it comes down to, Pepper said, is empowering people. He said these are all things that are done in other places, so West Virginia should do them, too.