ROANOKE, Va. – Appalachian Power customers could see lower electricity bills as soon as next year through a new financing plan submitted to Virginia regulators.
The utility has petitioned the State Corporation Commission to issue more than $1.3 billion in bonds, a process called securitization, to spread out costs from severe weather events and power plant expenses currently reflected in customer bills.
“These costs will eventually be recovered, but we’re trying to find immediate relief for our customers now,” said George Porter, Appalachian Power spokesperson.
The proposal comes after a challenging period of extreme temperatures and devastating weather events like Hurricane Helene and the ice storms earlier this year. The utility spent approximately $140 million on storm recovery efforts alone.
“When storms hit, we have to take a step back and make decisions to get power restored immediately,” Porter explained. “It’s not a situation where we can say, ‘let’s try to save a buck or two’ and have customers without power for an extra three, four, or five days.”
Under the securitization plan, residential customers could save about $11.44 monthly per 1,000 kilowatt-hours used. The savings would scale proportionally with usage - customers using 2,000 kilowatt-hours would save roughly $22.88 monthly.
Gloria Jackson, a local consumer, welcomed the potential savings. “I think that’s great. Could be a little bit more, but anything helps,” she said.
Delegate Jason Ballard of Giles County, who sponsored legislation enabling the securitization option, emphasized that more work remains to address utility costs.
“People are suffering. I’ve heard stories about electric bills exceeding $1,000 for homes that are not very big,” Ballard said. “We’re definitely looking at ways to address that problem.”
The State Corporation Commission will review Appalachian Power’s securitization request over the next several months. If approved, customers could begin seeing lower bills in spring 2026.