About 40 percent of Appalachian Power’s Virginia residential customers will see a credit on their next electric bill. The credit is the result of the Virginia State Corporation Commission’s (SCC) July order in the company’s 2009 base rate case request in which the SCC approved a rate lower than that which the company temporarily collected on an interim basis last winter.
 
In the weeks since the SCC issued its order, Appalachian re-calculated every billing period for every customer at the approved rate to determine if the customer is due a refund. Approximately 180,000 of the company’s current residential customers will get a refund. Most are about $11 and all refunds include interest. The last time the company issued a refund was in early 2009 and the average residential refund in that case was $4.
 
Appalachian collected an interim rate from December 12 to February 23. On February 24 Governor Bob McDonnell signed legislation requiring the company to suspend the interim rates and establish a timeline for the SCC to issue an order in the pending case. The interim rates were suspended from February 24 to July 31.
 
Any over-collection is being returned to customers. There are customers who underpaid during this period; however, according to Appalachian’s commitment when the legislation was passed the company will not collect that amount. Based on the SCC’s final approved rates this amounts to approximately $4.7 million.
 
"Residential customers most likely to get a refund are those who consumed higher amounts of electricity in the weeks when the interim rates were in effect and used lower amounts of energy during the suspension period," said Jaime Beckelhimer, customer services manager.
 
Under an older form of regulation, Appalachian was permitted to implement interim rates 150 days after filing a rate increase request if the SCC had not issued an order in the case. There was no timeline for the SCC to act, so interim rates allowed the company to collect at the requested rate, subject to refund.
 
Refunds will begin appearing on bills issued today. If a customer is due a refund there will be a line item with the amount and a line item with the interest earned. Appalachian will mail checks to customers who are due a refund and have discontinued electric service. Customers may view the refund amount effect on their account by going to www.AppalachianPower.com. The site also provides information on payment options available to customers.
 
Appalachian Power provides electricity to 1 million customers in Virginia, West Virginia and Tennessee (as AEP Appalachian Power). It is a unit of American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP), 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.