Thousands of Appalachian Power Co. customers have switched to new billing plans to ease the pain of high bills that surprised them last month.
Meanwhile, a legislative bill in the state’s General Assembly that would halt the rate increase from December could become law next week, giving more relief to customers.
APCo spokesman Todd Burns told The News & Advance on Friday that 8,000 Virginia customers have switched to the company’s average monthly payment plan in the past month. That is a small fraction of APCo’s nearly 400,000 residential customers in the state, but not all APCo customers use electricity for heating.
Extremely cold temperatures from mid-December to mid-January caused electrically powered heat systems to use much more electricity than normal. Many customers saw their bills double or triple.
When it faced a backlash of customer complaints of the high bills, APCo encouraged people to sign up for the average monthly payment plan, which spreads out the charges over a period of months.
APCo also created a new billing option specifically designed to let customers defer the payment on their bill from January until the spring. Because that is a new program, the number of people who have signed up for it will not be available until the end of February, Burns said.
APCo vice president Dan Carson said the company is ready reduce its rates slightly as soon as a bill it negotiated with General Assembly members becomes law. He said he expects Gov. Bob McDonnell could sign the bill next week.
If so, he said, APCo bills going out on Monday and after would be charged at the lower rates that were in effect before December 12. Depending on usage, a $500 utility might drop by $50 a month under the reduced rates, though others would see smaller savings.
That bill would require APCo to stop collecting the December rate increase, which was put in place on an interim basis because regulators have not made a final decision whether to approve the requested increase. It also would require the State Corporation Commission to make a final decision on APCo’s rate hike request by July 15.
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