CHARLESTON, W.Va. – There’s a list where West Virginia ranks near the top.
The state Public Service Commission recently announced the state is among the lowest rates for electricity in the nation
“Our (2013) rates were the sixth lowest in the entire country,” PSC spokesperson Susan Small said.
On average, West Virginians pay 9.52 cents per kilowatt hour. The only states with cheaper rates are Arkansas, Idaho, Louisiana, North Dakota and Washington.
Small said utilities are able to keep their rates low in large part because of the abundant amount of natural resources here in the Mountain State as well as the oversight of the PSC.
“I think the commission works very, very hard and very diligently to make sure that any money that goes out of the ratepayer’s pocket is examined and scrutinized and necessary,” she said.
West Virginia has the cheapest electric bills when compared to surrounding states.
“For a long time Kentucky was beating us but we consistently have lower electric rates than Kentucky and all the states that surround West Virginia,” according to Small.
When you compare West Virginia bills to those in high rate areas Small said the numbers don’t lie.
“We may feel like when we write the check every month it’s a lot of money. But to put things in perspective, if we lived in New York and used the same amount of electricity, our electric bills rather than being 95 dollars a month it would be close to 200 dollars a month,” said Small.
New York, Connecticut, Vermont, California and New Hampshire have the highest average electric bills in the country.