November 24, 2020: On November 24, the Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) entered a final order in Appalachian Power's triennial rate review case rejecting the entirety of Appalachian Power's $65 million rate increase (a 6.5% increase for residential customers). Sierra Club engaged primarily on three issues: (1) APCo's continuing investments in the Amos and Mountaineer coal plants; (2) its proposal to start charging customers for the retirement of those plants now, rather than after APCo settles on an early retirement date (Coal Amortization Rider); and (3) APCo's proposal to increase the basic service charge portion of rates from $7.95 to $14/month.
We scored victories on all three counts. While we had initially asked the SCC to disallow recovery of some past investments and O&M costs in Amos and Mountaineer, we negotiated a settlement with APCo shortly before the hearing, which instead required APCo to perform a serious analysis of the most economic retirement date for those plants. The settlement includes specific parameters for the analysis and requires the analysis be done in the context of their 2022 Integrated Resource Plan, which will give us an opportunity to conduct discovery and, if necessary, push back on the analysis. In the Final Order, the SCC approves that settlement.
With that retirement analysis forthcoming, the SCC also found it premature to begin pre-charging customers for the undepreciated value of the Amos and Mountaineer coal plants and thereby rejected the Coal Amortization Rider.
Finally, the SCC rejected APCo's proposal to increase the basic service charge. The Commissioners don't explain their reasoning on that issue. They merely say they were "persuaded by evidence and arguments opposing this change," with a footnote citing to (among other things) our arguments about how less-volumetric rates adversely affect energy efficiency and customer-owned solar.
The very next day, November 25, Appalachian Power filed its pro forma notice of appeal, which goes directly to the Virginia Supreme Court. Within 30 days they'll have to flesh out in more detail the basis of their appeal.