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The West Virginia Public Service Commission has closed a case in which it had ordered its staff to investigate the cause of an extended gas outage that left many on Charleston's West Side without heat in November 2023. The PSC instead will conduct new, separate investigations of Mountaineer Gas and West Virginia American Water that focus on their maintenance practices and actions during and after November service outages.

Public Service Commission staff has proposed launching a $70 million grant program for statewide hydrant replacements aimed at helping small utilities. Data show big utilities operate a higher percentage of hydrants in need of replacement.

The Public Service Commission signed off on allowing the utilities to recoup $321.1 million from customers over the next decade. The decision will cost the average residential ratepayer using 1,000 kilowatts of power per month an extra $2.50 monthly for 10 years.

The swelling surcharge is for vegetation management. Parent company FirstEnergy says will increase the monthly bill for an average residential customer by $2.47. That increase, for use of 1,000 kilowatt-hours per month, will come via a surcharge adjustment effective Jan. 1, 2024. The PSC order approved a roughly $16.9 million revenue increase over a two-year period for a 1% increase in total rates.

The West Virginia Public Service Commission memorandum reported the results of an investigation the PSC ordered in June into the maintenance and testing of nearly 50,000 fire hydrants operated in the Mountain State. In the filing, PSC engineering and legal staff recommended funding — estimated to cost $70 million — be provided for a statewide hydrant replacement grant program for nonprofit water utilities.