CHARLESTON, W.Va., April 4, 2011 – Residential rates for customers of Appalachian Power and Wheeling Power will increase about 15 cents a day for typical residential customers, the company announced today. Residential customers who use 1,000 kilowatt-hours a month will see their monthly bill rise from $86.40 to $90.95, an increase of 4.6 percent. The increase for other customer classes, like commercial or industrial customers, will vary.

Residential Customer Usage and Costs

Usage in KWH	Current Rate	New Rate	Monthly Increase
1,000	$86.40	$90.95	$4.55
2,000	$162.77	$170.83	$8.06

 
The Public Service Commission (PSC) of West Virginia on March 30 approved a revenue increase for Appalachian Power and Wheeling Power in the companies’ base rate case.

Rates for Appalachian’s customers are well below the national average. The national average residential price for electricity is 11.04 cents per kilowatt-hour, compared to Appalachian’s new rate of 9.1 cents.

Appalachian Power provides electricity to 1 million customers in Virginia, West Virginia and Tennessee (as AEP Appalachian Power) and Wheeling Power provides electricity to customers primarily in Marshall and Ohio counties in West Virginia. Both companies are units of American Electric Power, one of the largest electric utilities in the United States, with more than 5 million customers in 11 states. AEP ranks among the nation’s largest generators of electricity, owning nearly 38,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the U.S. AEP also owns the nation’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.
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