Martinsville Bulletin, Inc.
P. O. Box 3711
204 Broad Street
Martinsville, Virginia 24115
276-638-8801
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Friday, September 11, 2009
By GINNY WRAY - Bulletin Staff Writer
State Sen. Roscoe Reynolds said he was the only person to speak against an Appalachian Power Co. rate hike request at a hearing Thursday.
The hearing, on a 3 percent increase requested to help the utility recover transmission costs, was held at the State Corporation Commission offices in Richmond, Reynolds said.
“I told the commission the residential customers, local governments, charitable organizations and businesses didn’t have the ability to pass any increases along,” Reynolds said Thursday night.
If Appalachian is granted further increases, he said residents will have to decide what essentials to give up so they can pay their electric bill. Local governments will have to decide what services they will stop providing so they can cover the additional costs, and charitable organizations — already having trouble raising funds due to the recession — will have even more trouble getting donations and serving the community, he said.
“Businesses have made it clear, especially furniture businesses, that any increases will lead to further losses of jobs in the furniture industry,” Reynolds said he told the SCC.
Appalachian officials spoke for the increase, Reynolds said. He added that the SCC officials did not comment or indicate when they might rule on the request.
Appalachian has requested four rate increases this year. “If they get anywhere close to what they are asking for,” customers will be paying more than 50 percent more per kilowatt hour than they were three years ago, Reynolds said.
He acknowledged that a 3 percent increase is “small potatoes” compared with a general rate increase, but he added that it would be cumulative.
In August, the SCC approved a 7.7 percent increase for Appalachian’s fuel factor. Appalachian had requested a 13.1 percent increase, or $226.8 million. The commission reduced the company’s request by $97.3 million.
Appalachian also has requested an environmental and reliability surcharge to recover $41 million the company spent in 2008. That request would increase average electricity rates by 3.5 percent, and it still is pending with the SCC.
Appalachian also filed two additional rate hike requests in July. If approved, those requests together would increase a customer’s bill by 55 cents a day, assuming he or she uses an average of 1,000 kilowatt hours per month, the company has said.
The SCC has not ruled on those requests.
Appalachian serves customers in Henry and Patrick counties. |
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