CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The state Public Service Commission has scheduled an evidentiary hearing for next June on Appalachian Power Company’s request for a 14 percent increase in its base rate that could up the average customer’s power bill by $24 a month.
Councilman Emmett Pepper
Energy Efficient West Virginia Policy Director Emmett Pepper, who is also a member of Charleston City Council, has reviewed the proposal. He said the utility said it could spread out the increase over a number of years.
“The companies have really talked up a proposal to kind of spread out the rate increase over a 20-year period and so that may end up being some cost savings for some folks,” Pepper said. “We don’t know exactly how much yet, because the way their proposing, they have a separate case for part of the rate increase that would come up in the next couple of months.”
He says that the system the PSC has in place allows for their to be a lot of feedback given.
“This is a system where it’s irregulated, where we can push and pull and look at it and there’s oversight from the Public Service Commission,” Pepper said.
Pepper said the commission also gave the public the chance to give feedback on the first proposal back in August and most of the public were frustrated with the proposal.
“People are frustrated, the rates just keep going up, it’s gotten a lot more expensive, it’s more than doubled the last 15 years here in this area for Appalachia Power customers,” Pepper said.
The PSC rejected Appalachian Power’s first filing. The utility then refiled.
Panhandling ordinance
In his job on city council, Pepper said the new year will bring further consideration of an anti-panhandling ordinance.
The proposed ordinance would mirror the ones that were passed in Wheeling this year and the one that was passed last year in Morgantown, in which it would limit the interactions between pedestrians in city streets and those operating a motor vehicle.
However, a recent lawsuit issued in Monongalia County in early December that states their ordinance violates their first amendment rights, has Pepper thinking that the council should hold off on discussing it any further.
“My strong inclination would be just to wait to see how the lawsuit plays out,” he said. “I know that the chairman and the mayor are both committed to taking the time, thinking it through, let’s think about all of the different options, how do we this in a way that is protective of people’s rights but also protective of everybody else’s safety.”
The proposed ordinance will also include people who hold signs for children’s fundraiser’s and those who hold signs for campaigns in heavy trafficked areas.