Nineteen.
ThatÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s how many homes near Johnson Road, in Kanawha County, Eric Hanson said lose their power several times a year, though not from storms. What follows, Hanson said, are long outages to which he is especially vulnerable as the user of a sleep apnea treatment machine and a survivor of multiple recent ministrokes.
ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œItÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s tough,ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥ Hanson said.
Food that cost thousands of dollars had to be thrown out after those 19 homes went a week and a half longer without power than neighbors last year, Hanson said.
HansonÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s grim reports came toward the end of a litany of consumer complaints and protests heard by West Virginia Public Service Commission members during a hearing it held Tuesday evening to take public comments on a pending $250.5 million rate increase request from Appalachian Power and Wheeling Power.
If approved, the rate hike bid would impose a $23.74 ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥” or 13.54% ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥” increase in the bill of an average residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt-hours per month. The request follows a 207% increase from $55.28 in 2005 to $169.69 in 2024 in the average Appalachian Power and Wheeling Power monthly residential utility cost, according to PSC data.
Appalachian Power and Wheeling Power in March filed a request with the PSC to recover roughly $2.4 billion of costs through consumer rate relief bonds, asserting it would lessen the proposed rate impact on customers.
The companies estimated recovering costs through consumer rate relief bonds, a process called securitization, would yield a shorter monthly bill climb of $6.72 ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥” or 3.8% ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥” for a residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt-hours.
ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œAs a senior whoÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s on Social Security, we donÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™t need another power [rate] increase,ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥ Dorcas Griggs, of Barboursville, said during the public comment hearing. ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œThereÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s people [who are] not going to make it.ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥
The rate hike request, filed in November by the two American Electric Power subsidiaries, also came under heavy scrutiny during an evidentiary hearing the PSC held Tuesday and Wednesday to consider the application. The PSC took in testimony from company representatives ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥” and consumer advocates who have questioned the utilitiesÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™ management of their coal-fired assets.
ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œIt seemed like they need to really work more proactively and more innovatively with some of their suppliers,ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥ West Virginia Consumer Advocate Division witness Ralph Smith, a consultant at Michigan-based certified public accounting and regulatory consulting firm Larkin & Associates PLLC, testified Wednesday.
Common refrains among captive ratepayers objecting to the rate hike request were complaints about the companiesÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™ enduring profitability amid a steep increase in customer bills and proposal to limit customer benefits within an incentive arrangement called net metering through which a sharply growing number of customers are generating their own solar power.
Company evidentiary hearing testimony highlighted a power struggle for customers not likely to subside following the Trump administrationÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s reported April firing of the entire staff administering the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which provides federally funded aid to lower home energy bill and investment-related costs.
ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œAnybody thatÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s got a lined pocket can afford this kind of stuff,ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥ Mary West, of Beckley, said at the public comment hearing. ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œBut everybody canÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™t afford it.ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥
Struggles to pay the bills
Randall Short, Appalachian Power director of regulatory services for West Virginia, indicated in testimony Tuesday that there was a monthly average of roughly 83,000 customers in arrears in 2023.
ShortÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s testimony indicated roughly 6,600 Appalachian Power and Wheeling Power customers received assistance between 2022 and 2023 from the Dollar Energy Fund, a Pittsburgh-based program that provides grants to customers facing service terminations or already have had their service terminated.
The Trump administration has proposed to zero out the budget for the federal , which supports states via the federal Department of Health and Human Services. The Trump administration laid off the entire program staff in April, according to national reports.
In response to questioning from Consumer Advocate Division Director Robert Williams, Appalachian Power president and chief operating officer Aaron Walker affirmed that programs like LIHEAP and the Dollar Energy Fund are beneficial for customers and the company, keeping it from having to write off customer debts.
Net metering plan panned
Public commenters frequently criticized Appalachian Power and Wheeling Power for their proposal to change the terms of customersÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™ net metering, in which a residential customer owns or leases and operates an energy resource ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥” often solar ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥” connected on their side of the utility meter.
Supporters of net metering say it cuts back on straining distribution systems and encourages economic and environmental benefits through customers lowering future electric bills by exporting power to the grid.
But the companies say their current net metering setup shifts cost responsibility onto nonparticipating customers. They have proposed a new net metering compensation structure in which new net metering customers would no longer be credited the full retail rate for the metered energy they produce and deliver to the utility electric system.
The companies had roughly 1,400 net metering customers in 2023, roughly double the total from just two years earlier.
George Adase, a farm owner in Marshall County, said at TuesdayÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s public comment hearing he had a solar array that had reduced carbon dioxide emissions by more than 50,000 pounds and would slash those emissions by more than 1.5 million pounds over the course of its projected life.
ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œRather than paying solar [customer-generators] a discounted rate for every kilowatt-hour produced, they [the companies] should be paying a significant premium,ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥ Adase said.
Coal oversupply persists
As Appalachian Power and Wheeling Power push a proposal that could chill residential solar development in West Virginia, their representatives defended what has been a costly oversupply of coal at their power plants during the evidentiary hearing.
Appalachian Power and Wheeling Power reported to the PSC losses of $40.5 million incurred as they burned coal to address coal oversupply at their plants.
Low electric energy prices in 2024 resulted in a ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œlower economic dispatchÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥ of Appalachian Power and Wheeling Power coal-fired generating units in line with regional averages, resulting in coal supply that exceeded market demand for coal-fired power in 2024 and the companiesÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™ consumption, American Electric Power Service Corp. regulatory services director Jason Stegall testified in utility testimony filed with the PSC on April 29.
That testimony came in a separate pending case Appalachian Power and Wheeling Power filed seeking a $71.6 million fuel cost rate hike effective Sept. 1. The utilities have asked the PSC to approve a 3.79% climb in total revenues to cover that rate hike request projecting average monthly increases of $5.31 (3.03%) for residential customers, $15.05 (3.31%) for commercial customers and $13,400 (4.77%) for industrial customers.
The coal supply and market imbalance put Appalachian Power and Wheeling Power at risk for exceeding storage limits at their coal-fired plants, Stegall said, noting that when the companies reach maximum storage level, they canÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™t accept further deliveries and risk having to pay for coal they canÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™t receive.
One way the utilities address that risk is by using market strategies to increase coal consumption, Stegall testified. Those strategies, Stegall said, include a ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œMust RunÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥ status for coal plant units, meaning the companies commit them into the energy market for regional grid operator PJM and run them at ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œeconomic minimum outputÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥ to increase generation and thus raise coal consumption and lower risk of exceeding maximum coal storage levels.
When ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œMust RunÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥ status didnÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™t yield a level of coal consumption that addressed the companiesÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™ concerns, they used a price decrement to ensure PJM dispatched their units at levels that did, Stegall indicated.
ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œThe burn hasnÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™t materialized quite to what we had purchased,ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥ Kimberly Chilcote, fuel and reagent procurement director for AEP Service Corp., an Appalachian Power and Wheeling Power affiliate, testified Tuesday. ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œAnd because of that, we have this extra inventory that is on the ground right now and will continue to be on the ground through the end of this year.ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥
Smith, the Consumer Advocate Division witness, testified Wednesday that coal-fired power isnÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™t as economical as it used to be amid wholesale electricity market competition from wind, solar and natural gas. Smith testified that variable cost ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥” an expense that fluctuates based on changes in production or sales volume ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥” is ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œvirtually zeroÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥ for solar.
ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œItÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s not like it used to be,ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥ Smith said.
Smith has criticized the companiesÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™ securitization proposal, saying it included an unreliable analysis of whether the investment will be profitable.
ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥˜You didnÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™t ask your favorite questionÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™
Walker and Jason Baker, Appalachian Power vice president of operations, testified they werenÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™t aware of a Duke Energy program that incentivizes customers to install batteries alongside solar energy systems, which can lower energy bills and provide backup power.
Duke Energy launched an incentive-based pilot program last year for installing home solar generation with battery energy storage in North Carolina service areas.
ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œYeah, I honestly donÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™t know,ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥ Walker replied when asked by David Hanna, attorney for Huntington-based solar installer Solar Holler LLC, whether Appalachian Power or Wheeling Power have considered implementing similar programs to encourage battery storage installation.
Walker had more to say to PSC member Bill Raney, longtime former president of the .
ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œYou didnÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™t ask your favorite question,ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥ Walker told Raney at the end of his testimony.
Implying the inquiry sought how much coal the companies have on hand, Walker then skipped to the answer: at least 41 daysÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™ worth, with 87 at some sites.
ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œIÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™m glad you got a very solid answer,ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥ Raney said.
AEP profit scrutinized
American Electric Power reported what it called ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œstrongÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥ 2025 first-quarter operating earnings of $1.54 per share in its for the quarter.
Michael Winiesdorffer Sr., a net metering solar customer, observed at TuesdayÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s public comment hearing that AEPÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s 2024 year-end operating earnings amounted to $5.62 per share. The company noted in February those earnings were a 7% increase over the prior year.
ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œI suggest that we carefully look this [rate] increase over,ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥ Winiesdorffer said, ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œand I ask you to deny that.ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥
ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥˜Stop taking from the poor manÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™
Despite AEPÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s signs of financial strength, Short said the rate hike is needed to cover upgrades to outdated infrastructure, reporting distribution lines that date back to World War II.
ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œIf we delay replacing them, that may increase our return, but then theyÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™re going to be 85 years old or 90, and they may fail,ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥ Short said. ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œAnd thatÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s a very expensive proposition.ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥
But West argued at PSC headquarters Tuesday evening the proposition on the table already is too expensive.
ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œAEP needs to wake up,ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥ West said, ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œand stop taking from the poor man.ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥
