| Appalachian Power and Wheeling Power wants to raise residential customers' electric rates by 8.9 percent this year.
The subsidiaries of American Electric Power just filed their rate hike request with the state Public Service Commission.
Appalachian said this year's $118.8 million rate hike is necessary to recoup what the electric company spends for coal and to purchase power and pay for scrubbers at the John Amos Power plant near St. Albans.
This rate request would be in addition to a separate 7 percent residential rate hike that's awaiting approval from the PSC that would take effect April 1.
AARP-West Virginia has expressed a "grave concern" for seniors and low-income West Virginians served by the utilities.
They say state residents have not experienced this kind of surge in utility costs since natural gas rates spiked more than two decades ago.
See related story POWER COMPANY SEEKING THIRD RATE INCREASE IN LESS THAN A YEAR - Suit Filed Over Power Plant Dumping Arsenic
| 
