RICHMOND — Just one measure remained alive Thursday night out of nine pieces of legislation that lawmakers filed because people were complaining about high electricity bills from Appalachian Power Co.
A related attempt to curb electricity rates was killed in a House committee Thursday afternoon. The other legislation had been eliminated last week.
The surviving measure would temporarily suspend a rate increase the company started collecting in December. Coinciding with a long cold snap, the increase contributed to bills in the $400-$500 range for many homeowners.
Legislation to stop collecting that increase until August was rushed to approval in the House of Delegates on Tuesday and awaits action in the Senate — and then by Gov. Bob McDonnell, whose signature would lower APCo’s rate immediately to its November level.
A measure, HB 639, that was intended to further tighten the state’s controls over APCo rates died on a 21-1 vote Thursday afternoon in the House Commerce and Labor committee. Del. Joe Johnson, D-Abingdon, cast the only vote for the measure.
The measure’s sponsor, Del. Ward Armstrong, D-Henry, called the vote “a backroom deal.”
Several members of the committee, including Del. Ben Cline, R-Rockbridge, said they had studied Armstrong’s bill and decided it wouldn’t fix high utility bills.
“It just doesn’t get it done,” Cline said. “This bill doesn’t help people in my district who are suffering from high rates.”
Del. Kathy Byron, R-Campbell County, said she had doubts because Armstrong had told the committee he couldn’t guarantee his bill would result in lower rates.
Armstrong said that while he couldn’t prove his bill would lower rates, he was nevertheless convinced that it would be effective.
In essence, Armstrong’s bill would have restored state regulations that prevailed in the 1990s when APCo was raising its rates less often. Virginia approved deregulation measures in 1999, and revised them in 2007.
During 2009, APCo imposed four separate rate increases, all of which had been approved by the State Corporation Commission.
Del. Donald Merricks, R-Danville, said most of APCo’s recent rate increases occurred under older regulations, which are the same ones Armstrong’s bill would have restored.
“Under our current law, the utility is required to give a refund” if customers are overcharged, Merricks said.
Arlen Bolstad, of the SCC, told the committee members that the agency’s regulators can audit APCo’s earnings at any time and use the information when the company applies for a rate increase.
However, the newest regulations pose more limits on information the SCC can consider in a rate case, eliminating some data on the company’s operating costs.
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