Good evening. My name is Lisa Di Bartolomeo, and I live in Monongalia County. I'm here today as a West Virginia resident and a Mon Power customer because the decisions made in this case will affect every one of us who pays an electric bill.
The companies are asking you to approve a new 1,200-megawatt gas plant with an estimated cost of approximately $2.48 billion. That's an enormous investment that will affect our electric bills for decades.
The financial risks of FirstEnergy’s proposal fall on customers. As we watch construction costs increase, as we watch natural gas prices rise, and as we see less expensive technologies continue to emerge, it is ratepayers—not shareholders—who will bear that burden. If the power is for a speculative data center, then that data center should pay, not us. Electricity demand from data centers may never materialize, and West Virginians shouldn’t be on the hook to pay their speculative costs.
I'm also concerned that FirstEnergy has a powerful financial incentive to build large utility-owned projects because those investments create long-term earnings opportunities. That means the Commission has an especially important responsibility to independently determine whether this gas plant is truly the best option for customers—not simply the option the utility prefers because it makes them more money.
West Virginia has an opportunity to build an energy future that is not only reliable, but also cleaner, more affordable, and more resilient. Investing in energy efficiency, renewable energy, battery storage, and modern grid technologies can help protect customers from fuel price volatility while creating a more flexible electric system that also creates well-paying jobs and healthier communities. We should be moving toward those solutions whenever they can meet our energy needs at a reasonable cost.
This decision isn't just about a power plant. It's about the kind of energy future we are choosing for West Virginia and whether communities like mine will be asked to shoulder billions of dollars in costs for someone else’s risky gamble.
I respectfully ask the Commission to put the interests of West Virginia ratepayers first and reject FirstEnergy’s gas plant proposal.