FLOYD COUNTY, Va. – Thousands of Appalachian Power customers are still without service in Virginia following a one-two punch of harsh weather conditions.
The utility had made headway after last week’s winter storm, but high winds over the weekend knocked out power for thousands of customers again. At one point, most of Floyd County was without power. Countless trees have fallen, bringing power lines down with them.
Some customers have been told it will be Thursday before service is restored.
“Unfortunately, right now you can’t buy a generator, not surprisingly. So, we have to kind of stay inside of a house that’s, you know, in the 30s right now and dropping,” said Mike Perry, who’s been without power since Wednesday. “That’s a big concern, especially for some of us who are elderly.”
Others in Floyd County had their service restored after days without it. Jarrett Davis and his family in Copper Hill have a generator, but lost water when the pumps went out. He said power goes out in the area at least three or four times a year.
“You can drive through here and there’s limbs laying on the power lines from last year that haven’t been cleared, and until they get a good grip on it, it’s going to be one problem after another,” Davis told 10 News.
It’s a problem that’s a costly one to fix for Appalachian Power. The company said it maintains 26,000 miles of overhead distribution lines in the commonwealth and uses outage data and current vegetation conditions to develop its maintenance program on a yearly basis.
Staff with the State Corporation Commission found that while the company traditionally trimmed vegetation along 2,000 miles of lines each year, that number declined sharply between 2020 and 2023.
As part of its request for a rate increase during the 2025-2026 cycle, Appalachian Power proposed using millions of dollars in added revenue to address circuits that cause the most outages and catch up on tree trimming and vegetation management.
In the end, the state approved a rate increase including an increased allocation for vegetation management, but it was less than what was originally requested by Appalachian Power.
The SCC approved $29.5 million in additional spending to target those problem circuits and almost $8.8 million for tree trimming efforts.
The commission is also requiring Appalachian Power to present a detailed cost-benefit analysis of the program targeting the worst circuits during the next rate review process.
