Appalachian Power commercial electricity rates in West Virginia

• Average commercial price, 202512.74¢per kWh, all commercial customers
• vs West Virginia average+8.6%state commercial average 11.73¢
• Commercial customers66,951largest of 4 in West Virginia
• Average use3,866 kWha month per commercial customer
• Average bill$492a month per commercial customer
• Since 2015+49%from 8.56¢ per kWh
• Outages546 mina year per customer · US average 124

Appalachian Power is an investor-owned utility serving 21 counties in West Virginia. Among the 4 West Virginia utilities in EIA’s 2025 sales data with 500 or more commercial customers, it is the largest, with about 44% of the state’s commercial customers. EIA lists it as Appalachian Power Co.

Appalachian Power commercial electricity prices, 2015 to 2025

In 2015 Appalachian Power billed its commercial customers an average of 8.56¢ per kWh. In 2025 the figure was 12.74¢, so it rose 49% over 10 years. The average for all commercial customers in West Virginia rose 36% over the same period. The latest year, 2025, is the highest of the 11 on record here. Between 2024 and 2025 it rose 3.2%.

Average use and average bill are the utility’s commercial sales and revenue divided by its commercial customers and by twelve. The bill is an all-in figure: energy, delivery, demand and fixed charges together. A few very large customers pull both averages up, so most businesses use and pay less than the average.

Residential, commercial and industrial prices at Appalachian Power

In 2025 the average commercial price at Appalachian Power was 25% below the residential figure and 41% above the industrial one. Larger customers take power at a higher voltage and use it more steadily, so at most utilities the average falls from residential to commercial to industrial. Which class an account falls in is the utility’s decision, and the line between commercial and industrial is drawn differently from one utility to the next.

How Appalachian Power’s commercial rates are set

Appalachian Power is investor-owned, so its rates are set in cases before the Public Service Commission of West Virginia and published in a tariff, which is a public document. A commercial account is billed on a rate schedule, chosen by the size of the account and the voltage it takes power at, and a schedule usually combines a fixed monthly charge, a charge per kWh and, above a certain size, a demand charge on the highest rate of draw in the month. The schedule code is printed on the bill. There is no competitive supply market for ordinary commercial accounts in West Virginia, so the levers are the schedule, the peak and the amount used.

Meters, time-varying rates and net metering at Appalachian Power

EIA counts 67,051 commercial meters at Appalachian Power in 2025, and 66,789 of them (more than 99%) are advanced meters (AMI), which record use at least hourly and report it to the utility at least daily. Of the rest, 4 are automated-reading (AMR) meters, which send a reading to the utility for billing only, and 258 are standard meters. An advanced meter is what makes interval data possible, and interval data is what shows when a building’s peak demand happens.

At Appalachian Power, 202 commercial customers were on a time-varying rate in 2025, about 0.3% of its commercial customers. A time-varying rate charges more in some hours than in others, so when a business uses power matters as well as how much. The kinds Appalachian Power reports offering commercial customers are time-of-use pricing.

EIA records 139 commercial net-metered generating systems at Appalachian Power in 2025, with 4.43 MW of capacity between them: about 2.1 for every 1,000 commercial customers. Net metering credits a customer for power its own system sends to the grid; the terms are in the utility’s tariff.

How reliable is Appalachian Power’s electric service?

Appalachian Power customers went without power for an average of 546 minutes in 2025, excluding major storms, with about 2.48 interruptions per customer. The average across U.S. utilities reporting the same way is 124 minutes. With major storms counted the figure was 1,035 minutes. These are averages over every customer of every class, so they describe the system and not any one street.

Where Appalachian Power serves

EIA records Appalachian Power serving customers in 21 West Virginia counties: Boone, Cabell, Clay, Fayette, Greenbrier, Jackson, Kanawha, Lincoln, Logan, Mason, McDowell, Mercer, Mingo, Monroe, Nicholas, Putnam, Raleigh, Roane, and 3 more. A county can be shared between utilities, so this does not tell you who serves a given address. The utility that serves an address is the one named on its bill.

EIA lists PJM as its balancing authority. PJM is one of the organised wholesale markets, which run the grid and the wholesale power market across their area.

Other utilities in West Virginia

The average each billed its commercial customers in 2025. The West Virginia page has the state’s own figures and every utility with 500 or more commercial customers.

• Mon Power (10.71¢)
• Potomac Edison (11.63¢)

What these figures can and cannot tell you

• They are averages over every commercial customer. A utility whose commercial customers are mostly large averages fewer cents per kWh than one serving mostly small shops, so a lower figure can mean larger customers and not a lower rate.
• They are not a rate schedule. None of these figures is a charge printed in Appalachian Power’s tariff, and nothing here works out a bill from one. The tariff index lists the utilities whose filed schedules are quoted on this site.
• They are annual and final. EIA publishes utility figures once a year. The West Virginia page carries the state’s trailing 12 months, which is more recent and still preliminary.

For one building, the cost estimator gives a range by building type, size and state, and price by utility sets every utility side by side. Commercial vs residential vs industrial compares the classes in every state.

Data: every year of these figures, for this utility and every other with a page, is in one CSV, free to use with credit to the U.S. Energy Information Administration and this site. To cite this page: Appalachian Power commercial electricity rates, CommercialElectricityRates.com, from EIA Form EIA-861 final 2025 data.

Common questions about Appalachian Power

What is the average commercial electricity rate at Appalachian Power?

Appalachian Power billed its commercial customers in West Virginia an average of 12.74¢ per kWh in 2025, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. That is 8.6% above the West Virginia commercial average of 11.73¢. It is the utility’s commercial revenue divided by its commercial sales, so it describes the whole class and is not the rate on any one schedule.

How much is the average commercial electric bill at Appalachian Power?

About $492 a month in 2025, on average use of about 3,866 kWh a month. That is Appalachian Power’s commercial revenue divided by its 66,951 commercial customers. A few very large accounts pull the average up, so most businesses pay less than this.

Have Appalachian Power’s commercial electricity rates gone up?

The average Appalachian Power billed commercial customers rose 49% between 2015 and 2025, from 8.56¢ to 12.74¢ per kWh. The West Virginia commercial average rose 36% over the same period.

How reliable is Appalachian Power’s electric service?

Appalachian Power customers averaged 546 minutes without power in 2025, excluding major storms, against a 124-minute average for U.S. utilities reporting the same way (EIA).

Does Appalachian Power use smart meters for businesses?

EIA counts 66,789 advanced (AMI) meters among Appalachian Power’s 67,051 commercial meters in 2025, which is more than 99%. An advanced meter records use at least hourly, which is what makes interval data and time-varying rates possible.

Is this the rate my business will pay Appalachian Power?

No. It is an average over every commercial customer, from a corner shop to a campus. What one business pays depends on its rate schedule, how much it uses and how hard it draws at its peak. The schedule code is printed on the bill, and the schedule itself is in Appalachian Power’s tariff.