ROANOKE, Va., December 18, 2013 – Appalachian Power today filed a request with the Virginia State Corporation Commission seeking recovery of electric transmission costs. The rate change is the first sought by the company since 2009 for transmission infrastructure improvements.

            Appalachian is asking for an annual increase of $49.9 million. If approved by the Commission, the change would increase the monthly bill for a residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt-hours by $3.98, or 3.6 percent. It would become effective in May 2014.

            The costs will be recovered on customer bills by updating the Transmission Rate Adjustment Clause, or T-RAC. RACs were established by the SCC for recovery of specific costs that are not captured in the company’s approved base rates and to allow targeted rate changes that can help smooth out bill increases.

             Today’s filing spreads under-recovered amounts across 19 months rather than 12 months, dropping the increase from five to 3.6 percent and softening the impact on customers.

             Appalachian Power has 1 million customers in Virginia, West Virginia and Tennessee (as AEP Appalachian Power). It is a unit of American Electric Power, one of the largest electric utilities in the United States, which delivers electricity to 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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