FRANKFORT, KY – Kentucky Power has asked the Kentucky Public Service Commission (KPSC) to withdraw a base rate case it filed in late June to recover costs associated with the transfer of 50 percent of the ownership of two power generating units from AEP Ohio’s Mitchell Plant near Moundsville, West Virginia. The case had asked for $114 million over existing rates and sought a general rate increase for Kentucky Power customers of about 23 percent. The company agreed to withdraw the case when the KPSC approved a stipulated settlement agreement on the Mitchell Transfer case Oct. 14.

As part of the settlement agreement, Kentucky Power will freeze current base rates and recover a portion of the costs associated with the Mitchell Transfer through an Asset Transfer Rider applied to customers’ bills beginning Jan. 1, 2014. Through the rider, a residential customer using 1,374 kilowatt hours of electricity per month will see a net increase of approximately 5 percent, or about $6.70 per month.

“Withdrawing this case is something we committed to do when we accepted the stipulated settlement agreement back in October,” said Ranie Wohnhas, managing director, regulatory and finance, for Kentucky Power.  “Now that all Commission-related appeals have been exhausted, the company filed its request to withdraw the base rate case Nov. 19,” he explained.

Under the Stipulation and Settlement Agreement approved by the Commission, Kentucky Power also is obligated to seek Commission approval to convert Unit 1 at Big Sandy to natural gas generation. The KPSC will have to approve the Unit 1 conversion through a filing the company expects to make early next month.

Kentucky Power is an operating unit of American Electric Power and provides electricity to approximately 172,000 customers in all or part of 20 Eastern Kentucky counties.

American Electric Power is one of the largest electric utilities in the United States, delivering electricity to 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. AEP’s transmission system directly or indirectly serves about 10 percent of the electricity demand in the Eastern Interconnection, the interconnected transmission system that covers 38 eastern and central U.S. states and eastern Canada, and approximately 11 percent of the electricity demand in ERCOT, the transmission system that covers much of Texas. AEP’s utility units operate as AEP Ohio, AEP Texas, Appalachian Power (in Virginia and West Virginia), AEP Appalachian Power (in Tennessee), Indiana Michigan Power, Kentucky Power, Public Service Company of Oklahoma, and Southwestern Electric Power Company (in Arkansas, Louisiana and east Texas). AEP’s headquarters are in Columbus, Ohio.

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