CLAY COUNTY, W.Va. — The Clay County Commission has sent a letter to the Public Service Commission of West Virginia requesting an investigation of Black Diamond Power Company.
The commission sent the letter requesting an investigation Wednesday, just hours after the public hearing regarding Black Diamond’s request for a $1.2 million increase to pay for power it purchases from Appalachian Power Company. The increase would result in a roughly $11 increase to the monthly bill for an average residential customer.
Black Diamond serves about 5,000 customers in Clay, Raleigh, and Wyoming counties.
Just last year, the PSC approved Black Diamond’s 14 percent increase, but according to Clay County Commission President Joyce Johnson, the service hasn’t improved.
“With that increase, there has been no better services and there are as many outages as there ever was,” Johnson told MetroNews.
The PSC heard from roughly 40 customers in Clay County Tuesday evening regarding the increase request. Residents shared experiences of poor service, power surges that are damaging household appliances, and erratic and inconsistent billing.
“One lady had a bill that is normally $300 and then she gets a new one the next month that was $1,100, and then the next month it was back down to $300. The customers are really complaining about the rates that they already have,” Johnson said.
According to Johnson, customers in Clay County have been asking for the commission to step in for a while now, and they’re taking the only action they can right now.
“We have a lot of people calling us complaining and asking, ‘Is there not something that we can do?” she said. “We don’t have the power to change the electric companies. We don’t have the power to make them do anything better than what they do. Our only option is to reach out to the Public Service Commission on behalf of our people and all of their complaints, and that’s what we felt we needed to do.”
The commission’s letter specifically asks the PSC to “evaluate the feasibility of transferring service responsibility from Black Diamond Power Company to Appalachian Power.”
As for the Black Diamond’s rate increase request, the PSC will be holding a second public comment hearing in Mullens next Tuesday. The PSC will issue its findings on October 31 at 9 a.m.