Appalachian Power residential customers in Virginia pay some of the highest power bills in Virginia.
Their electricity costs have risen higher than inflation in the past decade, according to a report published last year by Clean Energy.
During extreme weather in the winter and summer months, these prices spike. Appalachian power says temperatures this year average 20° colder than in 2025.
But other factors are driving up costs, too. As Virginia lawmakers push utilities to shift away from fossil fuels to renewable power by 2050, Appalachian Power customers still get a majority of their power from coal-fired power plants in West Virginia.
And while Virginia is trying to move away from coal, West Virginia wants to double down on the fossil fuel, leaving Appalachian Power torn between pleasing policymakers in both states – and sticking ratepayers with higher and higher bills.
In the small southwestern Virginia town of Cleveland, Jennifer Chumbly grew up in the shadow of the nearby Carbo Coal plant. Her family used to own the land where the plant stands, and her grandfather helped build it. But times have changed.
"There’s effects of air pollution, water pollution, things like that," Chumbly says. "When coal was feeding our families, we looked at it a little differently. Black coal in the creek? We put up with that."
Chumbly comes from a family of proud union miners. During the 1989 Pittston Coal Strike, they fought one of the nation’s longest acts of civil disobedience, largely to keep their health insurance.
But as coal employment declined, poverty rates grew in Chumbly's community, and throughout much of central Appalachia.
Now, with power bills rising, she says many of her neighbors have to choose whether to go without food, medicine, the dentist, or heating their home.
"So they choose to pay a power bill," Chumbly says. "And it’s kind of crazy. People need things. But you’re getting an outrageous power bill this month. So you’ve got to have power rather than get a filling for your tooth. That’s what it comes down to."
The Appalachian Power-owned plant near her home stopped burning coal in 2016, and now generates electricity with natural gas.
Indeed, there are only two coal plants left in Virginia. Despite that, Appalachian Power’s Virginia customers still get about 60% of their electricity from coal – most of it produced in West Virginia.
Why the cost of coal power is soaring
One of West Virginia's nine coal plants is the Harrison plant. Like the others, it supplies power to PJM Interconnection, the nation’s biggest grid operator which provides electricity to thirteen states and Washington D.C.. Harrison is West Virginia’s largest coal plant, in terms of electricity production. About 200 people work at the plant, which is located near Morgantown, close to the Pennsylvania line.
Standing outside the plant, Sierra Club volunteer Bill Price, who lives in nearby Upshur County, says his neighbors have concerns about how coal affects their power bills.
"They just want it to be less expensive than it is now," Price says, "and this is just gonna keep us stuck with higher rates till the further duration of this plant."
For a long time, coal was the cheapest source of electricity. But that’s changed, as fracking made gas more competitive, and solar dropped in price.
"It’s now true that it’s cheaper to build a new solar plant than it is to even run a coal fired power plant," says William Shobe, economics professor emeritus at the University of Virginia.
Shobe says the longer it takes to transition from coal to gas and renewables, the more it will cost ratepayers.
Already, Virginia residential Appalachian Power customers have seen their bills increase 160% in the past decade. Many customers live in homes without enough insulation and can’t easily afford to buy new windows or doors. That also drives up their bills.
At a food pantry in Montgomery County, Samantha Sparks was picking up chicken, eggs and peanut butter for her family. Sparks works as a nurse, but still, her family is straining to keep up with bills, especially electricity, which went up this winter to about $280 a month, and her grandfather, who’s on a fixed income, saw his bill increase to $500.
"I’ve made it in my family, it’s like a game to us now," Sparks says. "Who can turn off the most lights in the house and keep them off? Because it just keeps going up and up, and we’re not doing anything different. We’re actually using less. But the bill keeps going more."
"My bill for December was $760 dollars, [and] our bill for Jan. was $644," says Travis DeGrandi of Radford. "And it’s always really bad in the winter."
DeGrandi lives in a double-wide trailer in Radford and manages a low-income apartment complex in Pulaski. He says the residents there are also hurting from high electric bills.
"If we’re average income, and we’re struggling, what are the people that are below average?" asks DeGrandi. "How are they doing?"
And bills could be set to rise even higher. There are numerous reasons behind rising energy rates, including soaring demand from data centers and the cost of new power infrastructure they require. But there's also the increased cost of maintaining coal-fired power plants to keep them running.
“Mamaw’s power bill”
Appalachian Power sends power from its coal plants to customers in both Virginia and West Virginia – and policymakers in the two states are moving in opposite directions. Virginia wants to phase out fossil fuels by mid-century. Meanwhile, West Virginia lawmakers introduced several bills this year to try to boost the coal industry.
Earlier this year in a state senate committee on Energy and Mining, Republican Senator Rupie Philips invited the president of the West Virginia Coal Association, Chris Hamilton, to testify about a bill that could make coal companies pay lower taxes.
"Would this help Mamaw’s power bill?” Philips asked.
"I believe so, yes," Hamilton responded.
"So it’d be really hard to vote against this," Philips said. "Basically, you’d be voting against Mamaw if you vote against this."
"Yes."
It’s not just West Virginia Republicans moving to boost coal. Under President Trump, the federal government also has made a number of policy changes to benefit the coal industry.
The U.S. Department of Energy recently awarded $175 million for upgrades to coal-fired power plants — including to Appalachian Power's John Amos and Mountaineer plants in West Virginia. In an interview with Radio IQ, Appalachian Power spokesperson George Porter says it’s possible they could use this money to extend the lifespan of these plants, or they may put it all into making them run more efficiently.
Meanwhile, West Virginia's legislature also is moving forward to codify a state rule that would require utilities to run their coal plants at 69% capacity.
Appalachian Power has resisted that proposal, saying it's more economical to run those plants at 40% capacity. Running them at a higher capacity would use more coal — pleasing coal operators — but would result in higher bills, Porter says.
"All that does is increase cost for customers, and the goal is to try to keep costs down for our customers," Porter says.
Can Appalachian Power drop coal completely?
Meanwhile, Virginia is pushing Appalachian Power to move away from coal via the Clean Economy Act, which mandates the utility to shift entirely from fossil fuels by 2050.
"Gas is cheaper than coal, but renewables are cheaper all the way around," says Democratic Virginia Sen. Creigh Deeds.
But Republican Del. Terry Kilgore, who represents areas in Southwest Virginia that historically produced coal, says he is happy to see West Virginia investing to keep its coal plants operating.
"I applaud West Virginia for being able to bring it back," Kilgore says. "Coal is going to have to be part of the solution, least for a while."
So, Appalachian Power is being stretched between policy makers in two neighboring states with diametrical approaches to coal.
"It can be tricky," Porter says. "Virginia wants one thing and are pushing renewables, and obviously West Virginia’s a more coal-fired state, so that’s what they’re leaning toward."
Because Democrats control Virginia state government for the foreseeable future, it’s unlikely the state will shift towards generating more coal. Deeds says the Clean Economy Act's goals won't change, but he acknowledges that Democrats have a tricky balancing act.
Democrats also are trying to make fixes that make electricity bills more affordable. Data centers are driving growing demand for more power. And there’s a backlog for getting new solar, nuclear and natural gas plants into operation.
Grid scramble
That backlog is playing out at the regional grid operator, PJM Interconnection.
And PJM, just like utilities and policymakers, is juggling questions of demand, grid infrastructure, efficiency, and more. Jason Stanek, executive director of the governmental services department at PJM interconnection says, with higher demand and a delay of up to two years to get new power plants online, prices will continue to spike.
“If that balance is out of whack, then you’ll see prices go up,” Stanek says.
Last year, PJM’s capacity auctions, where companies bid to produce electricity to the grid, hit record high prices, signaling that power bills may continue to rise in the future. Stanek says they are trying to keep costs low for consumers, but they also have to ensure the grid has enough power, including during winter storms.
“We need the electrons coming from those units, regardless of the fuel type,” Stanek says. “PJM is agnostic to where these electrons are being generated from, whether they come from a solar panel or they come from a coal plant.”
Appalachian Power works with PJM on a day-to-day basis to figure out how to operate its power plants.
"It’s a juggling act," Porter says. "One day we may be going in one direction. The next day we may be going in for another customer."
Clearly, those various factors all play a role in driving up energy bills. And creating solid policies means we need better data, according to University of Virginia economist William Shobe.
"It’s very hard to come up with a good policy proposal if you are not clear on what is causing the problem," Shobe says.
Virginia and West Virginia lawmakers will continue to meet and debate policy until Saturday, March 14, when both are scheduled to adjourn.
