StopPATH WV
  • News
  • StopPATH WV Blog
  • FAQ
  • Events
  • Fundraisers
  • Make a Donation
  • Landowner Resources
  • About PATH
  • Get Involved
  • Commercials
  • Links
  • About Us
  • Contact

Delegate Skinner Delivers! WV PSC Commits to Open Investigation of Potomac Edison's Billing and Meter Reading Practices Next Week

5/31/2013

2 Comments

 
Delegate Stephen Skinner has delivered on the promise he made to all of you during the Citizens' Public Hearing on May 22.

Today, the WV Public Service Commission notified Delegate Skinner that it has determined, "...a general investigation should be initiated into the practices and procedures of both Potomac Edison Company and Monongahela Power Company as it relates to meter reading, billing and practices involving estimated bills."

The Commission "...intends to issue its order initializing a general investigation next week."

Please join me in thanking Delegates Skinner, Lawrence,  and Espinosa, and Senators Unger and Snyder, and our Jefferson County Commissioners Widmyer, Manuel and Noland for swift and successful action.

And thanks also to the NAACP, the Coalition for Reliable Power and the West Virginia Chapter of the Sierra Club for organizing and hosting the Public Hearing, as well as thanks to every citizen who came out to the hearing, especially those who came forward to share their stories.

There's still much more work to be done, but we can now pause to savor our first victory!
2 Comments

WV PSC Chairman's Arrogance and Bias in FirstEnergy Harrison Case a Most Revolting Display of Regulatory Capture

5/30/2013

2 Comments

 
Regulatory capture is the theory that regulators are often captured and controlled by the very industry they are charged with regulating in the public interest.  When a regulatory agency acts as a revolving door for utility industry executives, familiarity and arrogance proliferates and leaves the public under served and holding the door.

Sadly, it looks like FirstEnergy is keeping its PSC Chairman Michael Albert on a very short leash.  The Commissioner has been openly disparaging the members of the public who dared express their thoughts on FirstEnergy's unwise plant transfer proposal that will raise their electric rates 6% and lock them into paying for the company's cast-off, aging, power generator for the next 30 years.
But in lengthy opening remarks, Albert, a former utility company lawyer whose firm represents FirstEnergy, criticized what he said were inaccurate comments submitted to the PSC and reported by the media about the case. Albert did not provide any specific examples.
And he continues his assault on the public by ridiculing the citizens who went to great trouble and expense to show up for the hearing and plead their case in person.
Later, he said, "There was an awful lot of testimony (this morning, in the public portion), everybody said we can save the world by energy efficiency and demand response."
What an arrogant and thoughtless comment!  I really don't believe anyone actually mentioned "saving the world."  The public simply wants to save itself from further unnecessary and poorly planned FirstEnergy rate increases.

Obviously, Commissioner Albert isn't even capable of putting on his pleasant poker face and pretending to listen to the public he is sworn to serve.  Commissioner Albert's decision appears to already be made.

As for Chairman Albert: Not to place too much meaning on a small word choice, he spoke of the effect of the proposed transaction at the beginning of the hearing using "will" rather than "would."
Thankfully, his 6-year term as Chairman of the Public Service Commission will be expiring next month and Governor Tomblin will be free to appoint someone who is interested in serving the public, instead of serving his former colleagues and possible future employers at FirstEnergy.
2 Comments

Wrong Answer Downgrades FirstEnergy Stock

5/29/2013

2 Comments

 
Remember FirstEnergy's little fib about being happy to keep Harrison if their proposed transfer from Allegheny Energy Supply to Mon Power/Potomac Edison isn't approved during the company's last quarterly earnings call? 
Dan Eggers - Credit Suisse: Just following up on Tony's comments and Leila's comments about Harrison. Can you just maybe help us understand how important it is you think at this point in time to move that asset over from a balance sheet perspective relative to a customer benefit perspective? And then given kind of the wide or the low bid made in the intervenor testimony, how important it is to take a lower price or accept a lower price to get this done relative to keep in at FES if the pricing doesn't makes sense?
James F. Pearson - SVP and CFO: I'll start off with that, Dan. Well, let me start off. I think the low price of the $565 million or whatever that's just a nonstarter. So, I'll leave that at that. From a balance sheet perspective, we think we are in pretty good shape by getting the FirstEnergy Corp. bond deal done where we upsize to $1.5 billion. We also feel that we're in very good position with the hydro asset sales. So, we feel real comfortable about that. And as you know, we plan to infuse equity from FirstEnergy down into Mon Power associated with this asset transfer. If the asset transfer doesn't go forward, we would likely infuse that equity that we have planned for Mon Power down into FES. So, I think we end up at a good position for the balance sheet there at FES.
Anthony J. Alexander - President and CEO: Dan, this is Tony. As I'm looking at this, I think, this is far more important to West Virginia and Mon Power in terms of providing them with a stable and long-term resource that they can rely on than it is at this point from a balance sheet standpoint at FES or at FirstEnergy.
Dan Eggers - Credit Suisse: But if it didn't transfer, you'd feel comfortable keeping that extra capacity at FES?
Anthony J. Alexander - President and CEO: Absolutely. It's a great asset. So that's not a consideration.
Keeping that "great asset" became a "great liability" yesterday when Credit Suisse's Eggers downgraded FirstEnergy's rating.  I'm thinking that maybe Eggers wasn't convinced that Harrison really is a "great asset" after the results of PJM's latest RPM capacity auction were released on Friday (as if he ever really believed Tony the Trickster's silly bluster about keeping Harrison).

Eggers took FirstEnergy at their word.  If the company keeps its "great asset" it will continue to be unprofitable and drag down its balance sheet.  However, if the company can successfully unload the cost of running the plant on its West Virginia regulated customers, it will improve the balance sheet. 
Credit Suisse noted, “We have liked FE shares over peers for some time, attracted to the large base of regulated utility earnings (73% of 2015) that to us better protected the rich 5.2% dividend yield as well as management's commitment to, and success in, finding ways to extract value from the generation business (FES) in spite of sustained weak power market conditions through the early adoption of Retail, aggressive O&M controls, and fleet management through plant closures and seasonal dispatch until unit economics improved. We still see FE striving to do these things but the ugly reality of the 2016/17 RPM auction results are hard to deny: poor discipline by incumbent generators in the face of depressed forwards and the crushing impact of newbuild capacity plus greater imports are all contributing to an oversupplied market that will inevitably leave energy and capacity prices weak. We are lowering FE to Neutral (from Outperform) - meaning performance in-line with peers - and a target of $40 (from $45) built from our sum-of-the-parts valuation methodology. We see downside from here in all of the Integrated power names as the long and uncertain path to a power market recovery forces investors to reconsider the multiples paid for commodity cyclical power generation assets.”
PJM's auction results saw a sharp drop in prices for 2016-2017.  This means that not only will it ultimately be cheaper for Mon Power and Potomac Edison to purchase needed capacity from the market rather than buy Harrison to supply needed capacity, but all that unneeded excess supply from Harrison that FirstEnergy is proposing that Mon Power/Potomac Edison buy is now worth less than ever as a source of income that would offset the cost of purchasing the plant. 
Shares of FirstEnergy Corp. took a hit on Tuesday after Dan Eggers, an analyst for Credit Suisse, downgraded the company's stock to “neutral” from “outperform.”

At around 1:45 p.m., FirstEnergy was trading below $39.50 a share, or a price that was down more than 7% from its close last Friday of $42.62 a share.

In issuing the downgrade, Credit Suisse cited “an oversupplied market that will inevitably leave energy and capacity prices weak.” Mr. Eggers reduced his price target for FirstEnergy to $40 from $45.
FirstEnergy needs to unload their unprofitable Harrison power station on West Virginia electric consumers now more than ever.  The transaction will cause an increase in your monthly bill of at least 6% over current rates.  The Public Service Commission begins hearing the case today. 

Will FirstEnergy be able to fool the PSC into believing that Harrison is "a great asset?"  Or will the Commission face reality like Eggers did?

It is imperative that you let the PSC know that you do not support the Harrison transfer.  Click here to send your comments online quickly and easily.  Simply select case 12-1571 from the drop down menu and type in your comments.  Do it now!
2 Comments

Legislators Vow to Hold WV PSC Accountable on Potomac Edison Billing Catastrophe

5/25/2013

0 Comments

 
The West Virginia Public Service Commission demonstrated exactly where its loyalties lie on Wednesday when it failed to show up for a Citizens' Public Hearing about a monumental billing foul up on the part of regulated monopoly Potomac Edison.   Instead, the PSC sent their regrets and a statement making excuses for the company.  As Senator Herb Snyder thundered during his remarks, "That's not their job!"
Potomac Edison also "respectfully declined" the invitation to participate without explanation.  But then again, Potomac Edison doesn't need to explain itself when the PSC will gladly take one for the team.

This lack of responsiveness on the part of Potomac Edison and the regulators who are supposed to be protecting consumers from this utility monopoly clearly shows why a Citizens' Public Hearing was warranted.

More than 100 customers of Potomac Edison showed up for the hearing, and even though the guests of honor failed to make an appearance, state legislators, county commissioners, and a representative from U.S. Senator Manchin's office listened intently and sympathetically for more than two hours as a total of 26 citizens were heard.

The panel of public officials were raptly attentive and clearly flabbergasted at the what they heard, as Potomac Edison customers clutching handfuls of outrageous bills begged for help. 
There were audible gasps from the audience as citizens shared the amounts of monthly bills they had received.  And even in the face of such adversity, many speakers applied humor to their situation.  One threatened to rip the electric meter off the side of his home and send it to the CEO of FirstEnergy C.O.D. to see if the huge bills for an empty house would finally stop.  Others related stories about Potomac Edison's excuses for not reading meters that had the audience in stitches.  (Loose dogs are a deterrent at a property where the meter reader regularly shares space with a bull -- "He's a really nice bull," said the property owner.)  Although Potomac Edison's lack of concern has been intended to beat its customers into submission to step in line and pay the bill they are issued, the customers' spirit has not yet been broken.

After every last citizen had been heard, the legislators took the podium, one by one, to pledge justice.

Del. Tiffany Lawrence said that Potomac Edison has shown a "lack of decency."

Del. Stephen Skinner characterized Potomac Edison as a "...monopoly with shoddy business practices."

Sen. Herb Snyder shook his fist while pledging, "This starts tonight. We are going to make the Public Service Commission accountable."

Sen. John Unger stated that after PATH, he thought FirstEnergy was "humbled in terms of how they treat people, but they have not learned their lesson."

We will be meeting with the legislators to keep you up to date about how they are keeping their promises to all of you.  The fight has just begun!
0 Comments
Forward>>

    About the Author

    Keryn Newman blogs here at StopPATH WV about energy issues, transmission policy, misguided regulation, our greedy energy companies and their corporate spin.
    In 2008, AEP & Allegheny Energy's PATH joint venture used their transmission line routing etch-a-sketch to draw a 765kV line across the street from her house. Oooops! And the rest is history.

    About
    StopPATH Blog

    StopPATH Blog began as a forum for information and opinion about the PATH transmission project.  The PATH project was abandoned in 2012, however, this blog was not.

    StopPATH Blog continues to bring you energy policy news and opinion from a consumer's point of view.  If it's sometimes snarky and oftentimes irreverent, just remember that the truth isn't pretty.  People come here because they want the truth, instead of the usual dreadful lies this industry continues to tell itself.  If you keep reading, I'll keep writing.


    Need help opposing unneeded transmission?
    Email me


    Search This Site

    Got something to say?  Submit your own opinion for publication.

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    June 2025
    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010
    January 2010

    Categories

    All
    $$$$$$
    2023 PJM Transmission
    Aep Vs Firstenergy
    Arkansas
    Best Practices
    Best Practices
    Big Winds Big Lie
    Can Of Worms
    Carolinas
    Citizen Action
    Colorado
    Corporate Propaganda
    Data Centers
    Democracy Failures
    DOE Failure
    Emf
    Eminent Domain
    Events
    Ferc Action
    FERC Incentives Part Deux
    Ferc Transmission Noi
    Firstenergy Failure
    Good Ideas
    Illinois
    Iowa
    Kansas
    Land Agents
    Legislative Action
    Marketing To Mayberry
    MARL
    Missouri
    Mtstorm Doubs Rebuild
    Mtstormdoubs Rebuild
    New Jersey
    New Mexico
    Newslinks
    NIETC
    Opinion
    Path Alternatives
    Path Failures
    Path Intimidation Attempts
    Pay To Play
    Potomac Edison Investigation
    Power Company Propaganda
    Psc Failure
    Rates
    Regulatory Capture
    Skelly Fail
    The Pjm Cartel
    Top Ten Clean Line Mistakes
    Transource
    Valley Link Transmission
    Washington
    West Virginia
    Wind Catcher
    Wisconsin

Copyright 2010 StopPATH WV, Inc.