Earlier this month, in one single filing, AEP dropped a bombshell of a rate increase request on the nearly half a million West Virginians who rely on them to keep their homes warm, their lights on, and their businesses powered. According to their press release, AEP needs 17.6% more from families, 14% more from business owners, and 13% more from industrial users to keep delivering the same old energy.
That’s a pretty hefty swing. Almost $30 per month– or about $350 per year– for the average family. It’s gonna sting more than a little and folks are right to be upset. But the numbers that AEP cherry picked downplay the true scale of what they’re asking us to pay, because the more energy you consume, the greater the impact.
Here’s some perspective: For Wayne High School, the new rates would cost taxpayers an additional $38,000. Every single year. AEP wants us to reroute $38,000 per year– that could have covered the salary of a teacher– to a Wall Street utility that pays their CEO 237 times more than the average West Virginian family makes in a year. Let that sink in…
AEP wants us to reroute $38,000 per year to a Wall Street utility that pays their CEO 237 times more than the average West Virginian family makes in a year.
West Virginians have powered this nation for decades and deserve a fair marketplace when choosing how to power their own homes. As the largest homegrown solar company in the state, we absolutely have a stake in this. In part because there are thousands of families looking for relief as they watch their electric bills eat into more and more of their total monthly income. And in part because our West Virginia pride runs through the very veins of our company brand, and we are proud to be among the most well versed subject matter experts in energy policy. So it’s our duty to stand against this particular injustice.
The sad truth is, it feels all too familiar. We’ve seen similar shakedowns from every angle over the decades–the union busting, the bombing of miners, the taking of mineral rights. We have a long, painful history of it. The difference here is that it’s not isolated to one family, community, or industry. This is taking hard earned dollars from every school, fire hall, steel mill, food bank, and family in southern West Virginia. It’s a tax being imposed on us by a for-profit company.
Coincidentally, the one defense that West Virginians currently have at their disposal is solar. And what AEP didn’t mention in their press release is that the very same filing that proposed these absurd rates also asks the PSC to slash the value of net metered solar. Again, for some perspective: The money saved with solar means a whole lot to a family trying to scrape together enough for a summer vacation or to a school that can’t afford textbooks. It’s a drop in the bucket to AEP’s bottom line– yet they want to stamp it out because it’s literally the only way a family or a farm or a library can avoid paying their ever increasing rates.
Solar is West Virginians only defense against their corporate greed.
So it’s time to boycott the shakedown. Kudos to everyone who protested the rate increases at the State House. The next step is to stop giving them your business when there’s a clear alternative. While we can’t know exactly how this’ll play out, what we do know is AEP’s rates will continue to rise. And folks who go solar before they jam through any policy changes will be grandfathered into the current rate system, locking in the most savings. So first, call your representatives. Then, write the PSC in protest. And third, give us a call to see how you can protect yourself from this nonsense forever.
Resources:
Public Service Commission Filing
