Appalachian Power was granted a rate increase from the Public Service Commission (PSC) of West Virginia, which means Boone County residential customers saw their electric bills go up starting July 1.

“I totally disagree with this rate increase,” said Robert Johnson of Ellis Branch, near Danville. “It’s going to place a hardship on those on disability who haven’t had a cost of living raise in their checks for the past two years.”

Residential customers will see an increase in their electric bills of about 20 cents a day, according to the PSC.

“Residential customers who use 1,000 kilowatt-hours a month will see their monthly bill rise from $80.47 to $86.40, an increase of 7.4 percent,” the PSC said in a prepared statement last week. “The increase for other customer classes, like commercial or industrial customers, will vary slightly.”

Appalachian Power cited the increased costs of coal, fuel and purchased power, along with recovery costs from last winter’s devastating snowstorm that knocked out power to thousands in southern West Virginia.

“The increase is passed through to customers on a dollar-for-dollar basis with no profit for the company,” Appalachian Power said in a prepared statement. “It also includes some expenses for environmental compliance projects, primarily scrubbers at the John E. Amos Plant near Winfield.”

This increase brings Appalachian’s residential rates for electricity to 8.6 cents per kilowatt-hour.

“Rates for Appalachian’s West Virginia customers are 27 percent below the national average of 11.76 cents per kilowatt-hour,” Appalachian Power said.

Johnson says with the increased rates in other utilities, like water and natural gas, many people may have to choose between food and medicine or paying increased utility bills.

“All these utility rates are going up, but people’s incomes are not,” he said. “What are people supposed to do?”

Appalachian Power says it’s urging its customers to manage their energy use wisely and visit the company’s Internet Web site, www.WattWhyAndHow.com, for energy saving tips and to access a free home energy calculator.

“It can help explain how to conserve electricity,” the company said in its prepared statement. “The site also provides information on payment options available to customers.”

This increase is separate from a 17 percent base rate increase AEP requested in May, revenue from which could be used for distribution lines, labor costs and other infrastructure. That additional rate increase request can be found in this week’s legal advertisements. The commission has until March to decide on this hike for customers.

Appalachian Power is a unit of American Electric Power (AEP) and serves 481,141 customers in Boone and 23 other West Virginia counties.