Wheeling Power regulated rate & rate increases

Is Wheeling Power a monopoly? Can you switch?

For delivery, yes — it's a monopoly. Wheeling Power 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: Wheeling Power, owned by American Electric Power (AEP), 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. Wheeling Power 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 Wheeling Power's prices are set, and where you can file a public comment.

How often does Wheeling Power'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.

On normal-day reliability, Wheeling Power is the least 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 Wheeling Power Co. eia.gov →

How often does Wheeling Power 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.

That's the 3rd-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 Wheeling Power'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 Wheeling Power earns its profit

Because Wheeling Power 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.

Wheeling Power is owned by American Electric Power. In 2024, American Electric Power reported about $3.0 billion in net income — its profit across all of the utilities it owns, not Wheeling Power alone. Source: American Electric Power'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.