By Steven Allen Adams, The Intelligencer
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — As the possibility of West Virginia electric customers being on the hook for environmental improvements for three power plants looms on the horizon, a new study shows residential and industrial customers in the state already pay some of the highest prices for power.
According to a study conducted by the West Virginia University Bureau of Business and Economics Research on behalf of the public relations firm Orion Strategies, electricity prices in West Virginia have steadily increased over the last 10 years compared to the average price of electricity for other states part of the PJM Interconnection market.
PJM Interconnection is a wholesale energy transmission company, also called a regional transmission organization, serving 13 states and Washington, D.C. It includes 400 member utilities and independent power producers.
Founded in 1927, PJM and other regional transmission organizations allow generators of electricity and users to buy and sell power across the organization’s territory. Today’s PJM market came to be in 1999…