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| About 50 address SCC at hearing Wednesday |
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Thursday, October 30, 2008
By MICKEY POWELL - Bulletin Staff Writer
Henry County officials and local lawmakers hope that overwhelming opposition voiced during a public hearing Wednesday in Richmond will sway the State Corporation Commission (SCC) to deny Appalachian Power Co.’s request for a nearly 24 percent rate increase.
In May, Appalachian filed a request with the SCC for a 23.9 percent increase in base rates, saying it needs $208 million in extra revenue per year, mainly due to increased operating expenses and the costs of making power plants comply with new federal environmental regulations.
The SCC, which held the public hearing, has agreed that the rate hike could be implemented on an interim basis as of Tuesday. But if the SCC approves a smaller increase, or none at all, Appalachian will have to refund extra money paid by its customers, with interest.
Two Henry County officials, Blackberry District Supervisor Jim Adams and Horsepasture District Supervisor Debra Buchanan, voiced opposition to the rate increase during the hearing. Appalachian serves electric customers in Henry and Patrick counties.
The supervisors estimated that about 50 people spoke during the hearing, and they said all were opposed to the increase.
Adams said to his understanding that the SCC has received more than 12,000 e-mailed complaints about the increase.
Buchanan told SCC officials that Henry County residents, as well as those statewide, “would be irreparably damaged” as a result of the rate increase.
With the county’s high unemployment rate and other economic problems, “this rate increase is too much for our people to bear,” Buchanan said, according to a prepared copy of her remarks.
“We have citizens who struggle to put food on their table and clothes on their backs, and a 24 percent increase in their power bills is just another shovel full of dirt tossed on them,” she told the SCC.
“Each level of government has to live within its means,” she said. “Shouldn’t companies and utilities be expected to do the same thing?”
Adams said his remarks were aimed at “trying to help the commission understand” what has happened to the area’s economy, and that a rate increase would hurt not only residents, but also businesses, churches and nonprofit agencies, as well as their ability to operate and do business.
State Sen. Roscoe Reynolds, D-Ridgeway, and Del. Ward Armstrong, D-Collinsville, also voiced their opposition during the hearing.
Reynolds said he expressed his “complete opposition” to the rate hike.
“This increase is going to cause real hardships” if it is approved, Reynolds said. He added that churches and community organizations that help needy people would struggle to help people pay higher power bills.
The senator said he pointed out to the SCC that local governments would have to pass along their higher electricity costs to taxpayers because “they (governments) have no ability” to absorb the increase.
Armstrong could not be reached Wednesday, but he issued a statement saying he told the SCC that the region Appalachian serves “has been hardest hit by a changing economy and continues to face considerable struggles in our most recent economic downturn.”
Appalachian “has requested several significant rate increases this year which, if fully approved and implemented, will place an increased financial burden on families already struggling with higher costs for daily necessities such as groceries and gasoline,” Armstrong said.
Buchanan noted that a fuel rate increase and environmental surcharge the SCC recently approved for Appalachian will add “several dollars per month to each customer’s bill.”
After the lawmakers spoke, Adams said, the judge who presided over the SCC hearing said “he is very aware of the economic situation” in the Henry County area, and he hinted that Appalachian is “not going to get what it asked for.”
Reynolds said to his recollection, “they’ve never gotten what they’ve asked for” in previous rate increase attempts. “It’s always been less. I’d be absolutely astounded if Appalachian got what it asked for” this time.
Adams said he was unsure whether the judge was hinting that Appalachian would not get any of the rate hike it requested or the full amount.
“The public speaking up at this hearing,” as well as the e-mailed comments, “probably did a lot of good,” he said.
Buchanan added that attorneys for the Virginia Association of Counties, as well as large companies that operate in the state, including Kroger and Wal-Mart, also voiced opposition to the increase at the hearing. |
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