By the end of this week, Gov. Bob McDonnell is expected to sign a bill that could give many Southwest Virginia residents some relief from high utility costs.
“We should get something signed by tomorrow [today] or Friday,” Sen. Phil Puckett, D-Lebanon, said in a Wednesday phone interview from his office in Richmond.
The Virginia House of Delegates on Wednesday unanimously approved one of Puckett’s bills that would eliminate a utility company’s ability to charge an interim or temporary rate increase while state officials review more permanent adjustments.
Puckett’s legislation also would streamline the process the State Corporation Commission uses when it reviews rate-increase proposals. The measure cleared the state Senate on Feb. 10 and is now on its way to McDonnell’s desk for his signature.
Two weeks ago, American Electric Power agreed to drop its most recent 12.5 percent interim rate increase once Puckett’s bill clears the Virginia General Assembly.
Doing business in Virginia as Appalachian Power, AEP is the sole power provider to most of the people who live in Southwest and Southside Virginia. The company’s 12.5 percent interim rate increase first appeared on its customers’ December bills.
The increase is the latest in a series of adjustments that have raised AEP’s rates by 60 percent over the past two years, company spokesman Todd Burns said, adding that the increases are the direct result of increased fuel costs, environmental regulations and other business costs.
But whatever the reasons, Puckett said, he and several other legislators from AEP’s coverage area have been inundated with phone calls from people who are concerned about the increases and the effect the changes were having on their daily lives.
“Our people cannot afford to keep paying these things,” Puckett said of his constituents’ high utility bills, many of which came to $400 or $500 in January.
Acting on the calls, Puckett and several legislators drafted bills aimed at strengthening the state’s utility regulation process and limiting a company’s ability to adjust its rates. But they agreed to pull back the bills if AEP agreed to reduce its rates, Puckett said.
“The issue was what we can get right now,” Puckett said. Even if those other bills made it out of the legislature this year, he said, it would be several months before they provided any relief to people who need help with their bills right now.
Under the terms of the agreement, AEP will suspend its 12.5 percent rate increase immediately after McDonnell signs Puckett’s bill into law. It also will refund each customer one billing cycle’s worth of the money brought in by the rate increase.
Last week, Burns said eliminating the interim rate increase could result in a savings for AEP customers of about $13 for every 1,000 kilowatt-hours of usage. That means a person who paid an average of $117 a month would see his bill drop to $104, while a person whose utility bill was $234 a month would save about $26.
gmclean@bristolnews.com | (276) 645-2518
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