CHARLESTON, WV (WOWK)– Residential Appalachian Power and Wheeling Power customers may see a rate increase in the coming years.

On April 28, both companies submitted their annual Expanded Net Energy Cost (ENEC) filing to the Public Service Commission of West Virginia (PSC), requesting a $641.7 million increase to the current ENEC rate.

The ENEC reimburses a power company for unrecovered costs for purchased power as well as the costs of coal and natural gas the companies use to fuel power plants. In the regularly filed ENEC filings, power companies will often propose adjusting the amount of the ENEC that comes from customer rates, according to AEP.

According to AEP, this ENEC filing included two proposals to minimize the rate increase for customers.

In the first proposal, the income for the recovery would be spread out to increase over a three-year span. In that time, the amount of money the ENEC would get from residential customer rates will go up by 12.1%, or a combined $293.1 million from all residential customers.

The second proposal would only cost customers a total increase of 3.5%, or a combined $88.8 million for all residential customers, by converting assets from under-recovery and other cost items to offset the difference.

“Recovering these costs over the traditional one-year period would place an enormous burden on our customers,” said Aaron Walker, Appalachian Power president and COO. “To that end, we are proposing two creative cost recovery solutions in this filing that will minimize rate impact.”

The company requested that any approved adjustment take effect on September 1, 2023.