West Virginia · electric utility
Potomac Edison (West Virginia) regulated rate & rate increases
Potomac Edison (West Virginia) is a FirstEnergy utility serving West Virginia's eastern panhandle (Martinsburg and Berkeley Springs) (about 140,000 customers). Potomac Edison serves the eastern panhandle, economically tied to the D.C./Baltimore corridor, and files combined rate cases with sister utility Mon Power.
Potomac Edison (West Virginia) customer service & quick facts
The official ways to reach Potomac Edison (West Virginia) for outages, billing, and account help. RateWatchdog is independent and not affiliated with Potomac Edison (West Virginia) — these are the utility's own channels.
- Pay your bill
- Pay Potomac Edison (West Virginia) bill online →
- Start, stop, or move service
- Start / stop service →
No supplier to shop in West Virginia
West Virginia doesn't offer residential electric choice, so there's no third-party supplier to compare against — your rate is the regulated rate the Public Service Commission of West Virginia approves. Instead of a bill audit, we track Potomac Edison (West Virginia)'s rate cases so you can see what's proposed and what it means for your bill.
Why West Virginia bills are rising →Is Potomac Edison (West Virginia) a monopoly? Can you switch?
For delivery, yes — it's a monopoly. Potomac Edison (West Virginia) is the only company that runs the poles and wires to homes in its territory, so you can't pick a different company to deliver your power. That part is a regulated monopoly: Potomac Edison (West Virginia), owned by FirstEnergy, can only charge what the WV PSC approves in a rate case.
And in West Virginia, there's nothing to switch to. Unlike "shopping" states, West Virginia doesn't offer residential electric choice — no competitive supplier sells you the electricity. Potomac Edison (West Virginia) provides both the delivery and the power itself at a single regulated rate the WV PSC approves. Your one real lever is the rate case: that's where Potomac Edison (West Virginia)'s prices are set, and where you can file a public comment.
How often does Potomac Edison (West Virginia)'s power go out?
Federal reliability data, reported by the utility to the U.S. government. SAIDI is the average total time a customer is without power in a year; SAIFI is the average number of outages.
In 2024, including major storms
4 hr 35 min
without power, across about 1.5 outages
What the average customer actually experienced.
On a typical day (storms excluded)
4 hr 13 min
without power, across about 1.5 outages
Normal operations, with major event days removed.
On normal-day reliability, Potomac Edison (West Virginia) is the most reliable of the 4 West Virginia utilities we track — the range runs from 4 hr 13 min (Potomac Edison (West Virginia)) to 11 hr 1 min (Wheeling Power) of typical-day outage time per year.
Source: U.S. EIA Form EIA-861, 2024 reliability data (IEEE 1366 standard), for The Potomac Edison Company. eia.gov →
How often does Potomac Edison (West Virginia) disconnect customers for nonpayment?
Utilities report this to the federal government. It counts residential service disconnected for unpaid bills. A high rate isn't proof of wrongdoing — it's shaped by local poverty, climate, and how strong a state's shutoff-protection rules are, as much as by the utility itself.
Disconnections in 2024
4,304
times Potomac Edison (West Virginia) disconnected residential customers for nonpayment
Per 100 households
3.2
disconnections for every 100 residential customers it serves
That's the lowest disconnection rate of the 4 West Virginia utilities we track — the range runs from 3.2 per 100 (Potomac Edison (West Virginia)) to 18.6 per 100 (Appalachian Power (APCo)).
Counts disconnection events — one household can be shut off more than once. From Potomac Edison (West Virginia)'s own filings to the U.S. EIA (Form EIA-112, Residential Utility Disconnections Survey), first collected for 2024. eia.gov →
Where your bill money goes: how Potomac Edison (West Virginia) earns its profit
Because Potomac Edison (West Virginia) is a regulated monopoly, its profit isn't set by competing for customers — it's set by regulators. The WV PSC authorizes a target return on equity (around 9.5% to 10.5% for U.S. electric utilities) on the money it sinks into poles, wires, substations, and meters. It's a target, not a guarantee — a utility can earn above or below it — but a low-risk regulated monopoly reliably lands close. You pay that return back, plus the investment itself, through the delivery charge on every bill.
Potomac Edison (West Virginia) is owned by FirstEnergy. In 2024, FirstEnergy reported about $978 million in net income — its profit across all of the utilities it owns, not Potomac Edison (West Virginia) alone. Source: FirstEnergy's annual report (SEC Form 10-K, fiscal year 2024). SEC EDGAR →
That authorized return is set by regulators on the utility's investment — independently of how reliable the service is or how many customers are disconnected, the two measures above.
Rate cases & increases
- 26-0508-E-42T hearings
Mon Power and Potomac Edison's joint West Virginia base rate case, filed May 18, 2026 (pending). The companies propose two paths: a traditional $188 million base-rate adjustment (~13.9% residential), or a smaller $76 million 'Inflation and Investment Adjustment' phased in over two years. The PSC set an evidentiary hearing for July 9, 2026.
Potomac Edison (West Virginia) rate alerts
Email alerts for Potomac Edison (West Virginia) are coming soon — we're setting them up with double opt-in and one-click unsubscribe, and we'll never sell your data. For now, this page and the West Virginia hub track every active rate case.