RICHMOND, Va. — Furniture executives in Virginia say if Appalachian Power raises its rates by 25 percent, some of them may send manufacturing jobs elsewhere.


Executives from four southwest Virginia furniture makers testified at a hearing on the utility’s first request for a significant change in rate structure since the state moved toward deregulating electricity in 1999.

Doug Bassett of Vaughan-Bassett Furniture says the increase would add $330,000 a year to operating costs in 2014. He says while his company has survived cheap-labor imports to the US market, he says it’s easy to move production to where costs are lower.

Bassett said nearly half the company’s work force of 1,250 people is at North Carolina factories served by another power company.

Appalachian Power president Dana Waldo testified that employment levels at the affected companies, quote, “are a business decision they’ll have to make.”