Published: August 29, 2008 11:11 pm         

Allegheny Power seeks rate increase in W.Va.

CUMBERLAND — Allegheny Power submitted a request to the West Virginia Public Service Commission on Friday to recover an additional $173 million a year in fuel and purchased power costs, effective Jan. 1, 2009.

The proposed rate increase is largely due to the dramatic rise in coal prices, which is the single largest component of Allegheny’s cost of producing electricity. Since the company’s current rates went into effect in 2007, coal prices have more than tripled, rising 236 percent. Under a cost recovery clause established by the commission last year, customer bills are adjusted annually to reflect upward or downward changes in the cost of fuel and purchased power.

Allegheny’s rates in the state have been stable for many years. On Jan. 1, 1998, the average residential 1,000 kilowatt-hour customer bill was about $70. Today it is about $73.

After the proposed rate increase, the monthly bill for a residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt-hours will be approximately $86. The regional average is $100, and the national average is $104.

In Maryland, a residential rate stabilization plan was enacted in 2006, where customers received an increase of about 15 percent in 2007 and 2008 that will be converted to credit beginning Jan. 1, 2009, according to Allen Staggers, manager of corporate communications.

The filing in West Virginia was made jointly by Monongahela Power Co. and the Potomac Edison Co., both subsidiaries of Allegheny Energy.