RICHMOND, Va., May 2, 2011 – In 2009 the Virginia State Corporation Commission approved recovery of approximately $90 million of deferred Environmental and Reliability (E&R) costs through an E&R surcharge. The recovery period ended last year and there is now a true-up to correct for any over- or under-recovery. Today, in accordance with a February Virginia State Corporation Commission order the company asked approval to recover the approved but uncollected amount of approximately $4.5 million beginning in 2012 concurrent with other proposed rate changes. Company officials expect rates to remain unchanged for the remainder of 2011.

In accordance with the SCC order in case (PUE-2009-00039), the company has proposed to continue the E&R surcharge in 2012. If the company’s proposal is accepted the impact on a residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt-hours would be about 25 cents a month, an increase of less than half a percent.

Appalachian Power provides electricity to 1 million customers in Virginia, West Virginia and Tennessee (as AEP Appalachian Power). It is a unit of American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP), one of the largest electric utilities in the United States, with more than 5 million customers in 11 states. AEP ranks among the nation’s largest generators of electricity, owning nearly 38,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the U.S. AEP also owns the nation’s largest electricity transmission system, a nearly 39,000-mile network that includes more 765 kilovolt extra-high voltage transmission lines than all other U.S. transmission systems combined.

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Editor’s note: The SCC order in this case can be found at http://docket.scc.state.va.us/CyberDocs/Libraries/Default_Library/Common/frameviewdsp.asp?doc=109460&lib=CASEWEBP%5FLIB&mimetype=application%2Fpdf&rendition=native