By Stephen Smoot
Customers of Potomac Edison and Monongahela Power, both subsidiary companies of Ohio-based First Energy, got a picayune present from the West Virginia Public Service Commission this year. Starting next month, residential customers should see an average 12 cent decrease in their electric bill.
Though that saves about enough to make a call from a telephone booth a half-century ago, customers were looking at a rate hike in January 2025. That, for the most part, came to cover increased costs from the application of a federal effluent rule.
Last August, First Energy submitted its annual review of Expended Net Energy Costs. This report shows the effect of added short-term costs to the production of electric power. These could include temporary spikes in the price of coal or natural gas, the effects of regulations, or the rising cost of needed equipment.
West Virginia state law allows companies to recover these costs through consideration of ENEC, but also provides a mechanism by which rates can decrease as well. Previously, a forecast of rising input costs provided reasoning to request a .8 percent rate hike, based on a June 2025 forecast for the coming year of a potential $75,000 shortfall for the two companies.
Six months later, the 2026 forecast has changed from a possible $75,000 “under-recovery” to a likely $57,000 “over-recovery.” This led to the companies requesting permission to lower rates, adjusting to the new market expectations for 2026, to which the PSC agreed on Dec 23.
The PSC ruling included the explanation that “the Companies stated the prospective 2026 cost decrease is the result of forecasted changes in coal, reagents, and purchased power costs. The impact to the average residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt hours (kWhs) per month is a decrease in the monthly bill of $0.12 from $137.43 to $137.31 or a 0.1 percent decrease.”
