Appalachian Power will start crediting a refund on the bills of its eligible Virginia customers beginning January 25 and continue monthly through July 2015. The refund is a result of the company’s biennial rate filing and the final order from the Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) issued late last year.
Appalachian is refunding a total of $5.8-million in earnings made during the 2012-2013 test year. The total amount for each customer will be credited over six monthly billings. The average monthly credit for a residential customer using 1000 kilowatt-hours(kWh) of electricity per month is $1.11, but individual credits will vary depending on electric usage.
Eligible former customers will receive a one-time check for the total refund amount. It will be mailed to the most recent address Appalachian has on file. A check will be mailed only if the total refund is at least one dollar. Checks will be mailed before March 25.
Eligible current and former customers must have been customers of Appalachian Power in Virginia between January 1, 2012 and December 31, 2013, and billed for power usage during that time.
Appalachian Power did not request an increase in rates during the biennial case and the SCC did not order a change in the company’s base rates.
“After a few years of rate-related increases for our Virginia customers, we believe rates have essentially stabilized,” said Charles Patton, Appalachian’s president and chief operating officer. “All in all, we expect only small up and down adjustments in the foreseeable future.”
“Several of our Rate Adjustment Charges (RACs) will expire or be reduced by mid-February and you can expect to see a decrease in total bills by about four percent or about $5 for a residential customer using 1,000 kWh in a month. However, we don’t know yet what impact fuel charges for transmission rates will have on our Virginia RAC requests during 2015,” Patton added.
An Appalachian Power residential customer in Virginia currently pays about $119 for 1,000 kWh in a month. The national residential retail average is about $125 according to the US Energy Information Agency.
Customers who have questions about this credit or other billing issues can contact a company representative at (800) 956-4237. They can also access account information online at AppalachianPower.com.
Appalachian Power has 1-million customers in Virginia, West Virginia and Tennessee (as AEP Appalachian Power). It is a unit of American Electric Power, one of the largest electric utilities in the United States, which delivers electricity to more than 5 million customers in 11 states. AEP ranks among the nation’s largest generators of electricity, owning nearly 38,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the US. AEP also owns the nation’s largest electricity transmission system, a nearly 39,000-mile network that includes more 765 kilovolt extra-high voltage transmission lines than all other US transmission systems combined.
