CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) - Appalachian Power hopes to decrease customer rates through a refinancing process called securitization.

Company spokesperson George Porter said the process avoids the shock of a rate hike using lower interest rates.

“Instead of having these customers pay these amounts now over shorter periods of time, we want to do securitization,” Porter said. “It’s essentially like financing a home, taking a loan out, so we’re gonna spread it out over- usually the traditional timeframe is twenty years.”

Porter said the process involves issuing bonds to recover more than $2 billion coming from fuel costs and company assets.

To cover everyday costs, the Public Service Commission in West Virginia is granting a rate increase of $76.1 million after the company requested $250 mil

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