Lawmakers eyeing changes to the PSC as the legislative session is underway

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WCHS) — With utility rates raising concern among many people across the Mountain State, lawmakers in the West Virginia Senate are eyeing ways to bring change.

Senate Bill 119, introduced by Cabell County Democrat Senator Mike Woelfel, would require Commissioners of the Public Service Commission to be elected rather than appointed.

“At this point, the fact that the commissioners are appointed by the governor really gives the citizens really no accountability in terms of holding folks responsible for these high utility rates,” Woelfel said.

According to move.org, people in the Mountain State pay the highest average water bill in the country at $121. They also found people in West Virginia are paying around $42 more per month for utilities this year compared to last.

Woelfel said West Virginians are facing some of the highest utility rates in the country, and this bill would add an extra layer of accountability and oversight.

“There’s not a consumer representative on there,” he said. “The deck is stacked in favor of utilities and this is not a panacea. This is one measure among others that I’d like to see enacted that would help our residents in terms of managing the utility costs.”

Woelfel’s bill is being supported by Ohio County Republican Senator Laura Chapman, proving it’s a bipartisan effort.

“I think that again, transparency and accountability needs to happen in this arena because we have more energy resources under our feet in West Virginia than Saudi Arabia,” Chapman said. “Why are our costs the number one in America?”

Chapman is also proposing legislation that would put a freeze on utility rates, giving the PSC about a year’s time to find solutions to curb rate hikes, something both Chapman and Woelfel said is a step in the right direction.

“So they’ll be evaluating if there’s any cost drivers, if there’s infrastructure costs that are too astronomical and doesn’t make sense for the public to have to pay for,” Chapman said.