Outage-prone West VirginiaÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s already poor electric reliability got significantly worse last year, according to annual reports newly filed by the stateÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s investor-owned utilities.
The reports come after years of the utilities struggling to meet state-set reliability targets and having their requests to not toughen those targets denied earlier this year.
Trees out of utility rights-of-way, equipment failures and high wind speeds were the most common causes of outages, according to the reports.
App Power outage metrics far exceeded targets
Appalachian Power reported average system outage frequency and duration rose 34.7% and 98.8%, respectively, from last year when including ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œmajor event daysÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥ when metrics exceed a threshold due to exceptional circumstances like severe weather, per an HD ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥ analysis of PSC filings.
Those Appalachian Power measures were 31.4% and 256% above minimum targets set by the West Virginia Public Service Commission, respectively, and 49.3% above optimal, more ambitious PSC-set targets.
Appalachian PowerÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s sustained interruptions climbed 17.4% from 2023 to 2024, and its reliability complaints increased 41.7% to 85 last year. Appalachian PowerÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s fellow American Electric Power subsidiary Wheeling Power fared better, with system average outage frequency and duration metrics that increased 1% and decreased 14%, respectively, when including major event days.
Appalachian PowerÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s 16,623 sustained interruptions last year ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥” an average of 45.4 per day ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥” were most commonly caused by trees out of the utility right-of-way, equipment failures and high winds, the company said. Sustained interruptions in those categories increased 17.3%, 11.4% and 62.8% from their 2023 totals, respectively.
Improvement plans for Appalachian Power and Wheeling Power for circuits it targeted to upgrade last year included vegetation management, right-of-way widening and implementing technology that detects a power outage and automatically reroutes the power to reduce the number of people impacted.
Mon Power and Potomac Edison reliability struggles
FirstEnergy subsidiaries Mon Power and Potomac Edison also reported reliability metrics revealing substantially poorer reliability performance in 2024 than 2023.
Mon Power reported system average outage duration and frequency metrics that increased 18.6% and 31.2% from 2023 to 2024, respectively, when including major event days.
Potomac Edison reported system average outage duration and frequency metrics that rose 30.4% and 29.2% from 2023 to 2024, respectively.
Potomac Edison failed to meet its minimum reliability targets for those metrics. Mon Power met its reliability target for its system average interruption frequency metric but not for duration metrics.
Mon Power and Potomac Edison pointed to high wind speeds as an outage culprit, reporting a long-term rise in calendar days in which their service territories experienced wind speeds higher than 40 miles per hour ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥” with 2024ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s total of roughly 60 days nearly tripling 2015ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s total.
The utilities reported reliability projects they said would improve reliability that included constructing tie lines between circuits to allow customer service to be restored before repairs begin.
New law requires utility outage communication plans
Last week, Gov. Patrick Morrisey signed into law a bill that sailed through the Legislature. It requires utilities to have plans to notify customers of service disruptions.
requires utility outage communication plans for both planned and unexpected service disruptions. They must include a method for notifying customers and provide estimates about the length of time of the disruption. Each utility must provide its plan to the PSC.
ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œItÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s all about communication with the ratepayers,ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥ Delegate Mike Pushkin, D-Kanawha, HB 3263ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s lead sponsor and chair of the West Virginia Democratic Party, said during a virtual party town hall meeting Sunday night.
Chronically long-lasting APCo outages
Outages have been especially long-lasting for Appalachian Power and Wheeling Power customers.
Appalachian Power failed to meet its current optimal target set by the PSC for average system outage duration in 2023 and reported meeting its minimum duration target just twice in the past five years leading up to 2024, per PSC filings, never meeting its optimal target for that category.
A nationwide ranked West Virginia dead last among all states in overall utility performance. The report found Mountain Staters had to endure the countryÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s worst performance in metrics measuring average duration of power outages and average time to restore power per customer.
The review published by the , a consumer advocate group, found West Virginia had the nationÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s second-worst average frequency of power outages, ahead of only Alaska.
Appalachian PowerÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s West Virginia coverage area ranked in the highest 6% of all 967 listed utilities nationwide in outage minutes per year in 2023, according to a Gazette-Mail review of U.S. Energy Information Administration data.
PSC strengthened reliability targets for APCo, WPCo
The PSC approved stronger electric reliability targets for Appalachian Power and Wheeling Power in January.
The agency adjusted minimal and optimal targets downward by 2% each for the companiesÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™ average number of customer outages per year and average interruption duration.
PSC staff had urged the PSC to deny an Appalachian Power and Wheeling Power request for more lenient targets in metrics measuring duration and frequency of power outages. PSC staff noted the companies have routinely failed to meet even minimum reliability targets set by the agency and concluded their performance negatively impacts electric reliability compared with neighboring states.
Commission staff said it was ready to launch a general investigation into Appalachian Power and Wheeling Power reliability performance since the companies ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œappear to lack focusÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥ on improvements if their reliability ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œremain[s] unreasonable.ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥
Jason Baker, vice president of distribution operations at Appalachian Power, said at a PSC hearing in November on Appalachian Power and Wheeling Power reliability targets that much of the companiesÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™ system in West Virginia was built in the 1930s and 1940s to extend service to coal mines and small towns ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œin the most economical manner that they could at the time.ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥
That means, Baker added, that ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œthereÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s no real patternÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥ to how the companiesÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™ system is laid out, yielding a ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œvery long circuit, miles from coal mine to coal mine.ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥
Baker noted line relocations could mitigate the reliability challenge posed by West VirginiaÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s mountainous terrain and that the stateÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s heavy forestation is another reliability obstacle.
Storms running up utility-reported costs
Severe storms that wreak havoc on West VirginiaÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s power are becoming more common ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥” and more costly for customers.
Appalachian Power and Wheeling Power have said they deferred over $94 million linked to extraordinary storm restoration costs from 2019 through 2023 and an additional $23.8 million of such costs from January through May 2024 alone. The result, the utilities said, was $118 million of deferred storm costs.
Storm costs have been a ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œvolatileÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥ category of operations and maintenance spending, according to the companies, ranging from $16.3 million to a high of $29.2 million during a five-year period covering 2019-23.
Worsening climate change is causing more extreme weather patterns that result in harder-hitting storms.
Nearly a quarter of West VirginiaÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s billion-dollar disasters from 1980 to 2024 (11 out of 45; 24%) came in just the last five years of that span, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration data.
Meanwhile, costs have soared for West Virginia electric consumers.
State ratepayers faced a 90% climb in average residential electricity retail price from 2005 to 2020, per U.S. Energy Information Administration data. Only Michigan had a greater increase by percentage.
