CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia Public Service Commission Chairman Mike Albert says the commission plans to push hard through Friday to take in all of the testimony related to Monongahela Power Company’s proposal to purchase the Harrison Power Station near Shinnston.
Chairman Albert began the three-day evidentiary hearing Wednesday with an opening statement.
“This is not an easy decision,” Albert said. “There are strong held beliefs on both sides. We have encouraged the parties to discuss a settlement…but that didn’t happen.”
Mon Power says it needs the coal-generated electricity the Harrison Station produces and it plans to pay $1.1 billion for the transfer of the plant. The company closed three smaller coal-generated power plants last year. It says Harrison will give it more than enough power to cover its West Virginia customers. The Harrison Station is in Mon Power’s service district but is owned by a subsidiary of Mon Power’s parent company.
Albert said most of the public comments the PSC has received in opposition to the plan have had a similar theme.
“They do not want Mon Power to add additional coal capacity, but instead support demand-side reductions in alternative fuel generation. Many of them also do not want a rate increase,” Albert said.
If the plant transfer is approved, rates for the average residential Mon Power customer will go up $5.63 a month, while commercial customers would pay nearly $15 more a month.
Albert says not all of the 1,600 public comments filed have been “consistent or entirely accurate.”
“Over 11-hundred comments from the public are opposed to the transaction and over 500 comments from the public are in favor of the transaction,” Albert said. “Many of these reflect sentiments that are remarkably similar and, in fact, reflect language that is identical in many instances.”
The PSC heard from three residents Wednesday before getting into the technical testimony. Weston resident Lynne Shearer is a Mon Power customer and AARP member. She says Mon Power rates have gone up $14 a month in the last five years. Shearer says senior citizens have some tough choices to make.
“Any increase, even a slight one, in the price of household utilities can mean a difference in an older West Virginian going without a meal or needed medication,” she said.
Shearer added there is nowhere in a shrinking household budget to pay more.
Shearer and others anticipate Mon Power will file for additional rate increases in the months ahead to recover costs from last summer’s derecho and last fall’s Hurricane Sandy event.
The PSC will issue a final decision on the Harrison Station plan later this year.