APCo Rate Reduction Act aims to lower power bills in Southwest Virginia
'You know, a lot of the calls from consumers are over higher electric rates, especially during this last month when it was so cold,' Kilgore told News Channel 11.
Kilgore and Delegates Israel O'Quinn and Jason Ballard co-sponsored a bill that he said would lower Appalachian Power's rates.
The APCo Rate Reduction Act passed 9-0 in the energy subcommittee. Still, Kilgore and other Southwest Virginia delegates need support from their fellow lawmakers to the north whose constituents aren't Appalachian Power customers.
'That it has been a challenge,' admits Kilgore. 'There's not many of us from Roanoke West. There are seven members in the House of Delegates, and in Fairfax County (alone), there are 18. So that there's your problem right there. And we've had to convince our folks shown on these electric bills that folks have and that folks have emailed us at $900 to a thousand dollars for a single-family house. That's outrageous.'
House Bill 2621 calls for an overhaul of the rate-setting process of Appalachian Power that delegates say will lower bills for customers, including:
Bans rate increases during winter months
Bans rate increase until March 2026
Review rates yearly instead of every two years
Requires State Corporation Commission to review 'seasonal rates'
Simplify customer bills
Fuel Cost reduction
'Securitize' or refinance existing coal plants
Co-sponsor Delegate Israel O'Quinn (R-Washington County) stated that the potential cost savings for customers could be historic.
'It is the largest single decrease that anyone around the capital can remember happening all at once,' said O'Quinn via Zoom. 'So, again, this is certainly a work in progress. But what we've been able to piece together with this bill is a significant amount of savings for ratepayers and will help to ease some of that sticker shock that people get when they when they open their bills during the cold winter months.'
O'Quinn said there is a companion bill in the Senate, and he expects some tweaks to the current bills as they move through committees, but said the legislation could be up for a vote in just weeks.
Lawmakers aim to reduce the average customer's kilowatt-hour cost by 13 percent.
News Channel 11 has reached out to Appalachian Power for a statement but did not receive one.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Yahoo
Why former Congressman Roe was so passionate about veteran legislation
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (WJHL) — Most people know Phil Roe as the Congressman who served Northeast Tennessee for six terms. During his time in Washington, D.C., he passed several bills to benefit veterans and servicemembers. He even chaired the House Committee on Veterans Affairs. 'I was one of the last people drafted in the army. I drafted in 1971,' he said. Roe was in Memphis for medical school when his first orders for Da Nang, Vietnam, were deferred for a year because so many doctors had been drafted from the area, leaving insufficient personnel to run the hospitals. He ended up going to Korea and was stationed 11 miles south of the demilitarized zone (DMZ). 'When you're in an infantry division like I was, you're divided into battalions. You have infantry battalions, aviation armor,' he said. 'I was in a medical battalion, and my medical battalion was right next to the armored battalion.' Roe was in the Second Infantry Division and the captain of the medical battalion. 'There were three of us young doctors that were in charge of taking the health care of an infantry division with 10,000 men in it,' said Roe. When he got out of the army, the $300 a month he received from the GI Bill helped support his young and growing career, as well as his family. 'I was having to work extra shifts in the [Emergency Room] to just pay the bills. I mean the rent was almost as much as my check was for a month, and I had a family to feed,' he said. 'To this very day, that made an impression on me.' Roe went on to become one of the most well-known OBGYNs in Johnson City, where he later served as the mayor before heading to Congress. 'I never thought I would ever do what I ended up doing,' he said. 'I never dreamed that, but I thought if I can ever do anything, I'm going to. And so I did.' SEE MORE: Fmr Congressman Roe discusses passage of Blue Water Navy Act for Agent Orange effects When chairing the House Veterans Affairs Committee, he visited VAs across the nation. He spearheaded bills aimed at helping his fellow veterans, including making the GI Bill a lifetime benefit and securing care for Blue Water Navy Veterans. 'They also have committed that service. And that's why I said, you know, I'm going to take care of them now,' he said. Roe says the Army set him up for success in many ways, but there is one thing that has stuck with him every day. 'I get up every day if I'm going somewhere, I polish and shine my shoes,' he said. 'You had to have shiny shoes in the military. If you'll notice, my shoes are polished. He hasn't slowed down since leaving Congress five years ago. He continues to volunteer with several local and national boards and occasionally participates in speaking engagements. However, he now has more time to play his guitar and pick his banjo. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Yahoo
Bluefield OKs permit for No Kings rally
bluefield — City officials have approved a permit for a No Kings Day rally in Bluefield this Saturday. Mercer County Indivisible is holding the rally Saturday at the area formerly known as Chicory Square in Bluefield's 400 block from noon to 3:00 pm., according to Debra Kilgore, one of the event organizers. Similar No Kings Day rallies held across the nation have been in opposition to the decisions and actions of President Donald Trump. The city of Bluefield has approved a permit for the downtown rally, City Manager Cecil Marson confirmed Tuesday. Bluefield Police Chief Dennis Dillow said Tuesday that extra patrols will be available Saturday if needed, but added he didn't anticipate any problems because the community supports its veterans, military, police and first responders. Kilgore said organizers plan on having a number of speakers at the event. 'Mercer County Indivisible is a local grassroots organizations that is involved in researching and investigating local issues,' Kilgore said. 'The goal is to hold our local representatives accountable for their votes and to persuade them to vote the proper way.' Kilgore said some of the decisions being made in Washington will impact area residents, including the possible loss of health care through Medicaid reductions and funding cuts impacting farmers. According to an event press release, Saturday, June 14, also is the day the Continental Congress created the U.S. Army in 1775 to stand up against a monarch, King George, as well as Flag Day. 'Today, 250 years later, Donald Trump intends to take these occasions and use our tax dollars to have a military parade to celebrate his birthday — like a king,' the press release from Mercer County Indivisible said. Contact Charles Owens at cowens@
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Yahoo
Greene Co. sheriff explains 287(g) partnership with ICE
GREENEVILLE, Tenn. (WJHL) — It wasn't long after Wesley Holt became sheriff in Greene County in 2018 that he thought partnering with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Agency would be good for his department and the county. At that time, Greene County was just the second jurisdiction in the state to be a part of the 287(g) program with its Jail Enforcement Model. 'There is a right way to come to our country and there's a wrong way to come to our country,' explained Holt as to why he signed on to the program. 'And it kind of defeats the purpose for the people that have done the right way to come to our country and become natural citizens, and those that are just coming across the border and being here free.' The way the 287(g) Jail Enforcement Model works is that ICE provides a month-long training class for qualified jailers and computer equipment for them to be able to check the immigration status of those already under arrest in the county. 'Anybody that's arrested into our facility, we go through a booking process and we have one question that says, 'have you, were you born in United States?'' John Key, the Greene County Jail Administrator, told News Channel 11. 'If I answer no to that question, it automatically triggers us to run them through the Immigration and Customs Enforcement program, to see if they have outstanding warrants or warrants to be deported from the country.' Key says the system usually provides an answer about immigration status within an hour, but if an arrestee bonds out before an answer is known, the county doesn't hold them pending an answer. If it turns out the person is here illegally, the sheriff's department notifies ICE agents and informs them of the next court date. But suspects aren't automatically deported until their local case is concluded. 'They have to satisfy any local sentence that they may receive, and once that sentence is satisfied, if they have a detainer, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have 72 hours to take them out of our custody,' explained Key. Those who have been detained or deported after being arrested in Greene County aren't always who you might think. 'They [ICE] picked people back [up] from Russia and Eastern Europe, France. Maybe they just overstayed a work visa, or they've overstayed a tourist visa, or they've overstayed even a student visa,' said Key. But some of those detained have been accused criminals, said Sheriff Holt. He said that those people don't need to be in Greene County. 'We might get them in here to the jail, they might come in on the DUI, but once we run them through the system, they may be going for statutory rape or anything like that. Criminal charges that they don't need to be on our streets here in Greene County or the State of Tennessee. They need to be deported back to where they came from if they're here illegally,' said Sheriff Holt. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
