Harrison plant to cost FirstEnergy WV customers $6/month in 2013 - WBOY.com: Clarksburg, Morgantown: News, Sports, Weather

Harrison plant to cost FirstEnergy WV customers $6/month in 2013

Posted: Updated:
By Pam Kasey - email

  • EnergyEnergy

  • Tuesday, June 18 2013 3:29 PM EDT2013-06-18 19:29:23 GMT
    HUNTINGTON - A new Marshall University energy project will demonstrate hydroelectric power using acid mine drainage from coal mining as its source of energy. Marshall University's Center for Environmental,
    A new Marshall University energy project will demonstrate hydroelectric power using acid mine drainage from coal mining as its source of energy.

  • Tuesday, June 18 2013 12:35 PM EDT2013-06-18 16:35:02 GMT
    As domestic use of coal slows and gas resources expand so rapidly that prices have plummeted to historic lows, the nation's fossil fuel giants are looking across the ocean for a solution.
    As domestic use of coal slows and gas resources expand so rapidly that prices have plummeted to historic lows, the nation's fossil fuel giants are looking across the ocean for a solution.

  • Tuesday, June 18 2013 11:59 AM EDT2013-06-18 15:59:37 GMT
    The U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Workers' Compensation Programs has published for public comment a direct final rule and a companion proposed rule adopting updated standards for administering and
    The U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Workers' Compensation Programs has published for public comment a direct final rule and a companion proposed rule adopting updated standards for administering and interpreting digital radiographs for the Federal Black Lung Program.
    •   

Mon Power's proposed purchase of the coal-fired Harrison station would initially cost Mon Power and Potomac Edison customers a monthly surcharge of $5.63 per month.

The FirstEnergy companies filed the rate information Jan. 29 with the Public Service Commission of West Virginia as a supplement to Mon Power's November filing proposing the purchase.

Mon Power, which also provides power to Potomac Edison customers, faces an increasing shortage of generation in coming years. To meet the expected need, the utility proposes to purchase the 80 percent it does not own of Harrison Power Station in Harrison County. In combination with the release of a small part Mon Power owns of Pleasants station, the transaction would cost about $1.1 billion.

Mon Power provided little comparison in the November filing or in an August Resource Plan of the cost of the proposed transaction with the cost of other possible means of meeting future need: a new natural gas combined cycle power plant that would take advantage of the expected years to come of low-priced natural gas, for example, or more aggressive efficiency programs that would reduce use.

Rates for Mon Power and Potomac Edison customers fell Jan. 1 due to lower coal and purchased power costs — reducing an average monthly bill 5 percent, from $99.07 to $94.31. The utilities propose to file a base rate case within six months if the generation resource transaction is approved. Following approval, the surcharge would take the average monthly bill to $99.94.

Cost and other questions will be pursued in the coming months by intervenors the Consumer Advocate Division of the PSC, the West Virginia Energy Users Group of large industrial electricity users, the West Virginia Citizen Action Group, the Utility Workers Union of American, the Sierra Club and the Independent Oil and Gas Association of West Virginia.

Follow Mon Power's generation resource transaction case under case number 12-1571-E-PC on the PSC's website.