The Public Service Commission (PSC) of West Virginia issued an order June 22 approving the joint stipulation and settlement agreement filed by Appalachian Power and Wheeling Power May 30. The Commission order grants the companies a combined annual increase in revenues of approximately $85.5 million, or 10 percent, effective July 1. The increase was requested through a mechanism approved by the PSC in July 2006 to annually adjust rates for the cost of environmental construction projects, fuel and purchased power.
Residential customers using 1,000 kilowatt-hours a month will see their bills rise from $58.87 to $64.55.
Appalachian Power is investing more than $1.4 billion to build flue gas desulfurization units – scrubbers – to reduce sulfur dioxide emissions from its Mountaineer and John Amos generating plants and comply with mandated federal and state clean air laws. These projects will result in cleaner air at the lowest possible cost. The Mountaineer scrubber went on line earlier this year; the first scrubber at Amos is set to begin operation next year.
Approximately $28.5 million of the increase is to cover these construction costs. Another $54.8 million is for increases in the cost of coal and purchased power. The PSC also approved $2.2 million in additional revenue to recover Appalachian’s first year cost of rehabilitating four small electric utilities in McDowell County that Appalachian will acquire as of July 1.
Appalachian Power provides electricity to 1 million customers in Virginia, West Virginia and Tennessee (as AEP Appalachian Power). It is a unit of American Electric Power, one of the largest electric utilities in the United States, with more than 5 million customers in 11 states. AEP ranks among the nation’s largest generators of electricity, owning nearly 38,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the U.S. AEP also owns the nation’s largest electricity transmission system, a nearly 39,000-mile network that includes more 765 kilovolt extra-high voltage transmission lines than all other U.S. transmission systems combined.
Phil Moye
Corporate Communications Manager
(304) 348-4188
Cell: (304) 550-0568
pamoye@AEP.com