The Public Service Commission of West Virginia gave its approval March 26 to a broad-based compromise that cuts in half a $207 million rate increase proposed by Monongahela Power Co. and The Potomac Edison Co.
Instead of approving a 13 percent hike, the commission endorsed a multiparty joint stipulation to allow rates to increase by 6.4 percent, or $105 million. In a separate order, the commission approved a joint stipulation in the companies’ depreciation case, resulting in an additional $33 million increase; effective on the first day of the month after the effective date of the new rates in the base rate case.
The companies filed this major rate increase case, called a base rate case, on May 31, 2023. A total of 1,865 protest letters opposing the rates were received by the commission.
A key stumbling block to a settlement in the case was net metering, which determines how consumers who generate their own power and sell it to the power companies would be charged for transmitting their output along company lines.
The companies and staff witnesses testified that all current rate payers are subsidizing the companies’ 1,700 net metering customers. As a result, the companies sought to impose a charge on future net metering customers, but agreed not to apply it to current customers for a 25-year period. That compromise was approved by the commission.
Existing net metering customers received a retail rate of 11 to 13 cents per kilowatt hour for power their solar panels send to the grid. The companies sought to cut that in half for future customers. The comprise set it at about 9 cents a kilowatt hour. It is set to take effect on Jan. 1, 2025.
More information on this case can be found on the PSC website: www.psc.state.wv.us. Click on “Case Information” and access Case Nos. 23-0460-E-42T and 23-0030-E-D.
