CHARLESTON – The Public Service Commission of West Virginia announced Tuesday it has posted utility outage communications plans on its website at www.psc.state.wv.us.
On July 9, 2025, the Commission ordered all nonmotor carrier utilities to file plans with the PSC.
“Each utility shall have an outage communication plan in place to notify customers of any planned and any unexpected disruption of utility services,” the Commission said. “Such outage communication plan shall, at a minimum, include a methodology for advance notification to all affected customers for planned service disruptions, methods of communication, and notification content requirements concerning the outage, including an estimate of the duration and end of the outage,” the order said.
The Legislature passed a bill last year extending the communications plans to all utilities and motor carriers.
The listing can be found on the left-hand side of the Commission website, under “reports and publications.” The plans are accessed by clicking on the last item in that section: “WV Code 24-2-22 Communications Plans”. A viewer then can type in the name of the utility whose plan is to be reviewed, and then click on the page and that utility’s plan will appear, if it has been filed.
As of January 6, the PSC Legal Division had received 481 plans that were acceptable and another 93 were deemed unacceptable. A total of 946 had not responded and of that latter number, the Legal Division has been in contact with 380 utilities to discuss the status of compliance.
“We are pleased to be able to post these plans in such a timely manner just as the Legislature is convening,” Chairman Charlotte R. Lane said. “This is important information and we are glad to make it so readily accessible to the public.”
More information on this case can be found on the PSC website: www.psc.state.wv.us. Click on “Case Information” and access General Order 267
