The Intelligencer: West Virginia PSC Hears From Public on Pleasants Power

By Steven Allen Adams

CHARLESTON – On the eve of an evidentiary hearing to decide whether ratepayers will have to shell out more money in order to keep the Pleasants Power plant idling, supporters and detractors of the plan made their voices heard Thursday.

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Opponents of the Pleasants Power plan who spoke Thursday said it was unfair to place the burden of keeping the plant functional on the backs of ratepayers who receive no direct benefit from the plant. Opponents also cited the need to move away from fossil fuels and to renewable sources of energy.

“I’m here to state my opposition to the acquisition of Pleasants Power station because of the impact it will likely have on my rates and my monthly bill,” said Sally Roberts Wilson, a Mon Power customer from Morgantown. “West Virginia citizens should not be required to bear the costs … it will become a choice of food, freezing, or having a heat stroke in the summer months.”

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Charleston Gazette-Mail: PSC holds public comment hearing on FirstEnergy utilities' $35M rate hike proposal to keep coal-fired plant open

By Mike Tony

Supporters and opponents of FirstEnergy utilities’ rate hike proposal of $36 million and potentially more to keep the coal-fired Pleasants Power Station open for 12 months sounded off on the plan at a West Virginia Public Service Commission hearing Thursday.

The PSC’s public comment hearing at its Charleston building reflected a virtually even split that had already emerged in over 1,100 written comments filed with the agency on the proposal.

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Opponents condemned coal-fired plants’ adverse climate effects and pointed out the increasingly uneconomic financial picture for the plant as coal-fired power generation dwindles throughout most states besides West Virginia.

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MetroNews: Public weighs in on keeping power plant operational — and at what cost

By Brad McElhinny

Members of the public weighed in on the fate of the Pleasants Power Station near Belmont, which is set to be closed June 1 unless an alternative comes through.

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Sally Roberts Wilson, a Morgantown resident, said she appeared at the public hearing as a Monongahela Power customer. She said the effect on rates would not be fair.

“I’m concerned that we will be saddled with the financial liabilities of this aged facility and its coal ash pond,” she said. “If this were a sound investment, private industry would not have rejected it.”

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MetroNews: Many arguments and little time as question of power plant’s fate hits deadline

By Brad McElhinny

The next few days will highlight arguments over how far the public is willing to go in saving a 150-employee West Virginia power plant.

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A multi-million dollar decision up against a tight deadline is unfair to ratepayers, said Karan May, Sierra Club senior campaign representative in West Virginia.

“It is not fair to ratepayers to ask nearly half the state’s electric customers to pay more on their bills to acquire a power plant that they don’t need and may not even be used — or to ask them to pay to keep it waiting in the wings,” May said.

“And certainly there’s not enough time for this to be judiciously considered. Rate cases and certificate of need cases, all manner of cases at the PSC tend to take up to six months and sometimes have gone on longer. Now we’re less than a month since the first filing by the company. No, it’s not enough time at all.”

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The Intelligencer: W.Va. PSC Sets Hearing on Pleasants Power Proposal

By Steven Allen Adams

CHARLESTON — With the clock ticking on whether to keep the coal-fired Pleasants Power Plant open past the end of May, the West Virginia Public Service Commission is quickly moving to consider a proposal that could keep the plant open another year at the expense of ratepayers.

The PSC will hold an evidentiary hearing 9:30 a.m. April 21 at its headquarters in Charleston to consider a proposal by Monongahela Power Co. and Potomac Edison Co. to keep Pleasants Power operating for at least 12 months while the companies consider a long-term solution for the plant.

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The Parkersburg News and Sentinel: West Virginia PSC to hold hearing on rate increase to keep Pleasants Power Plant open

CHARLESTON — With the clock ticking on whether to keep the Pleasants Power Plant open past the end of May, the West Virginia Public Service Commission is quickly moving to consider a proposal that could keep the plant open another year at the expense of ratepayers.

The PSC will hold an evidentiary hearing 9:30 a.m. April 21 at its headquarters in Charleston to consider a proposal by Monongahela Power Co. and Potomac Edison Co. to keep Pleasants Power operating for at least 12 months while the companies consider a long-term solution for the plant.

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