MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The same month Mon Power customers were expected to see rate increases on their electric bills, the company is reviewing $227 million dollars spent in 2015 on infrastructure and new projects.
According to the utility company, the gas industry has greater demands for power than existing infrastructure can support, like in Wetzel County near the Marion County line.
“There’s a large midstream gas processing plant there that uses enormous amounts of electricity. To serve that load, we’re in the process of beginning to build a $30 million substation there,” said Mon Power spokesman Todd Meyers.
First Energy, the parent company of Mon Power, maintains construction to meet industry needs also positively impacts residents in the 34-county coverage area.
“A rising tide lifts all boats. If we need to build new infrastructure that means the entire network is strengthened. It can make your electricity more resilient,” Meyers explained.
The company is constructing new transmission lines and substations along with installing remote-control equipment to reduce outages.
Continued development in the Morgantown area and down that I-79 corridor down through Fairmont and Clarksburg, there’s still an awful lot of commercial growth going on there and a lot of residential growth,” noted Meyers. “That’s one of our hottest growing areas in West Virginia. We spent about $18 million this last year just to hook up and serve new businesses in that corridor.”
First Energy is constructing a large transmission line near Clarksburg to Sherwood. There, they energized a new substation that served a gas processing plant and local residents.
In October, work was near completion on a transmission line and substation near West Milford. More than $17 million of that $19.5 million project was spent. Meyers estimated 14,000 Harrison, Lewis and Gilmer County residents should see positive results.
“The plan is to be able to maybe avoid an outage or if you do have an outage, your outage is much shorter than it takes to make a repair.”
Planning is continuing for additional projects that are expected to be completed in 2016, including new substations, transmission lines and circuit upgrades.
In December the WV Public Service Commission approved rate increases for Mon Power customers. First energy proposed a $9.00 increase each month for
the average residential customer.
A portion, more than half, of that money covers fuel costs, Meyers previously said. The remainder of the increase is said to help pay for vegetation management.