Virginia utility updates renewable portfolio standard

Roanoke, Va. – - Roanoke, Va. – Recently, Appalachian Power filed to update the Renewable Portfolio Standards RPS component of its electric rates.

If this filing is approved by the Virginia State Corporation Commission SCC, the change would increase rates 0.2 percent, or $0.27 per month for a residential customer using 1,000 kwh per month. The proposed change would not take effect until August 2013.

Appalachian Power has met the CommonwealthÂ’s renewable energy goals for the last two years primarily by purchasing wind generation to serve its customers. Approximately four percent of the energy delivered to AppalachianÂ’s Virginia customers comes from renewable sources. A portion of the costs associated with this generation is captured and recovered through an RPS rate adjustment clause that is reflected on customer bills.

Appalachian Power has more than 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 nationÂ’s largest generators of electricity, owning nearly 38,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the U.S. AEP also owns the nationÂ’s largest electricity transmission system, a nearly 39,000-mile network that includes more 765 kilovolt extra-high voltage transmission lines than all other U.S. transmission systems combined.