Virginia utility updates renewable portfolio standard

Appalachian Power RPS Rate Adjustment proposes a 0.2% increase, $0.27 per month at 1,000 kWh, pending Virginia SCC approval, tied to renewable energy purchases, wind power, and RPS compliance for residential customers.

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, reflecting how utilities sometimes increase rates to cover fuel costs while schedules are pending.

Appalachian Power has met the Commonwealth’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 Appalachian’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 and recipient of FERC approval to transfer generating assets, which delivers electricity to more than 5 million customers in 11 states. AEP ranks among the nation’s largest generators of electricity, and has responded to an Ohio capacity case decision as part of market proceedings, owning nearly 38,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the U.S. AEP also owns the nation’s largest electricity transmission system, where regulators will not delay power line proceedings in some cases, a nearly 39,000-mile network that includes more 765 kilovolt extra-high voltage transmission lines than all other U.S. transmission systems combined.

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