Patrick County Residents Attend Public Hearing on Power Rate Hike
November 19, 2009
A hearing was held by the State Corporation Commission at Rocky Mount on Nov. 19. Speakers included Del. Ward Armstrong and Sen. Roscoe Reynolds.
Source of This news:
Martinsville Bulletin, Nov. 20, 2009
Hearing speakers bemoan proposed APCo rate hike
Del. Ward Armstrong speaks at Thursday’s SCC hearing.
Friday, November 20, 2009
By MICKEY POWELL - Bulletin Staff Writer
Appalachian Power’s proposed rate hike would hurt families, harm jobs and hinder economic recovery, area residents told State Corporation Commission (SCC) officials during a public hearing Thursday night.
The hearing was held at Franklin County High School in Rocky Mount. About 125 people attended, and numerous residents of Henry and Patrick counties traveled to the hearing aboard two buses chartered by Del. Ward Armstrong, D-Collinsville, and the House minority leader.
Appalachian is seeking a $150 million rate increase that would raise base rates by about 14.5 percent for resident customers who use 1,000 kilowatts per month, according to company spokesman Todd Burns.
However, an SCC release stated that the base rate increase Appalachian is seeking is $154 million. The proposed rate hike would raise the monthly bill of a customer who uses 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity from $91.49 to $107.14, a hike of $15.65, or 17.1 percent, the release said.
The rate hike would be in effect for two years, Burns has said.
Larry Jackson, Appalachian’s external affairs manager, said the rate hike is needed basically due to the utility’s costs of meeting new federal environmental regulations.
Appalachian’s current rate hike request is its 13th in the past three years, and the SCC has approved most of them — if not the entire hike sought, at least a portion, according to Armstrong.
At the least, the company should be made to trim its expenses, said Karl Weiss, a member of the Patrick County Board of Supervisors.
