Light bulbs

POWER UP FOR GREATNESS

Keeping West Virginia’s Lights On

Reliable and Affordable Energy Powers Our Homes, Our Jobs, and Our Way of Life.
We Can’t Put America First if the Backbone of our Economy is Stressed.

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Our Outdated Electric Grid is Letting Us Down

We Can’t Restore America’s Energy Dominance with 50-Year-Old-Wires

President Trump is bringing America back. Manufacturing is returning and electricity demand is growing.

Yet our grid is obsolete and not able to support President Trump’s plans for American energy dominance. 

We can’t restore America’s energy dominance with 50-year-old-wires

What’s Wrong with Our Grid?

1. West Virginia’s Transmission Lines are Overloaded

Transmission lines are the delivery truck for our electricity. If the truck breaks down, the power doesn’t get to the paying customer.

If we don’t upgrade, we’ll see more outages, higher costs, and businesses leaving. That means fewer jobs, weaker communities, and a hit to our way of life.

It’s time to rebuild and keep West Virginia’s power — and economy — moving strong.

2. Modern Homes Demand More Power

The electric grid is aging and not able to keep up with our modern power needs. Our transmission system was built decades ago. Power lines that once worked well now bottleneck power and struggle to meet modern demand. It’s like trying to stream 4k video on dial-up Internet.

With modern appliances, the average home’s peak demand is nearly 2-3 times higher than it was 40 years ago.

1980s Home 5,000 Watts

VS

Home Today 13,000 Watts

Power Up for Greatness with Stronger Transmission

Stronger Power Lines = Stronger Communities = Greater West Virginia

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·New transmission lines keep your lights on, in your home, business, workplace and schools. 

·They can connect multiple sources of power so we’re not dependent on just one, reducing the chances of long, expensive blackouts.

·They keep costs lower by making the market more competitive, letting regions share power more efficiently

New Transmission Powers West Virginia’s Economy:

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Job creation during construction, with 100s of local jobs created

Local Economy

Growing the local economy from workers with more money to spend to shop and dine

Business growth

Business growth with ample, reliable power

Growing County budgets

Growing county budgets from tax revenue generated by the new power line

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Did you know?

West Virginia has a strong energy economy that includes a long and profitable history of sharing our abundant energy resources with our neighbors in other states. West Virginia’s energy sector results in: 

  • 87,000 West Virginia jobs (12% of the state’s total employment)
  • $700M in annual revenue from electricity exports

Transmission lines make that possible.

Let’s keep the lights on for the next 100 years

A West Virginian Legacy: Powering Generations

Interested in becoming a member?

West Virginians for Reliable and Affordable Energy is designed to be a coalition of businesses, organizations, and individuals that have an interest in supporting West Virginia’s energy economy and the infrastructure that keeps it running.

If you are interested in joining the coalition or would like additional information, please submit the form and our Executive Director Craig Blair will get back to you. 

Craig Blair

Executive Director

More about West Virginia

Building a Stronger Grid for West Virginia

Why New Transmission Lines Matter for West Virginia