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Appalachian Power and Wheeling Power have filed a request with the West Virginia Public Service Commission for a $37.2 million rate increase. That hike has been requested to recover costs that come with bringing three West Virginia power plants - including the Mitchell Plant in Marshall County - into compliance with EPA standards.
The power companies made the request last week, according to a news release. Appalachian Power officials say the increase reflects "historic and expected future costs for installing equipment upgrades" at the Mitchell Plant, the Amos Plant in Winfield and the Mountaineer Plant in Letart.
If approved, the hike would add $2.84 to the monthly bill of a residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt hours, a 1.68% increase.
"This investment in environmental equipment will keep our Amos, Mountaineer and Mitchell plants in compliance with current EPA regulations through 2040," Aaron Walker, Appalachian Power president and COO, said in the news release. "We are on track to meet project cost estimates, as well as the EPA timeline requirements for placing the equipment in operation."
Appalachian Power and Wheeling Power serve 462,000 customers in 25 West Virginia counties.
In October 2021, the PSC ruled that Appalachian Power and Wheeling Power could make the improvements necessary to keep the three plants in compliance with new environmental guidelines. That will keep all three plants operational until 2040. Other options at the time would have allowed the Mitchell Plant to stay open only until 2028.
Appalachian Power and Wheeling Power recently received authorization for another rate increase. The PSC in September greenlit an $88.8 million rate increase for the companies to recover the increased projected fuel costs for operating the three plants for the span between Sept. 1, 2023, and August 2024.
The companies are still trying to recover another $552.9 million, which represents accumulated under-recovery that came from the companies' relying more on expensive purchased power than they had originally projected. The recovery of that money remains under consideration by the PSC.
According to a September release from the PSC, the companies relied on the purchased power not because it would be more expensive to rely more on self-generation, but "because they were unable to obtain sufficient coal supplies to maximize economical self-generation." The PSC also mentioned the company's "imprudent management of fuel supplies."