Tag: State Corporation Commission (SCC)

Lawmakers push for stronger oversight of Dominion’s rates

Washington Post: Lawmakers push for stronger oversight of Dominion’s rates. A group of Virginia lawmakers is set to push for stricter regulatory oversight of the state’s dominant electric utility, saying Dominion Energy’s customers have overpaid billions of dollars because of the company’s outsized political sway.

But this year a group of lawmakers and advocacy groups plan to mount the strongest effort in years to beef up the power of the state’s regulatory agency, the State Corporation Commission, to lower rates and order customer refunds.

Virginia Natural Gas infrastructure expansion to be scaled back amid plant financing troubles

Virginia Mercury discusses Virginia Natural Gas infrastructure expansion to be scaled back amid plant financing troubles.

Plans for one of two controversial new natural gas plants planned to be built in Charles City County appear to be faltering, according to a letter sent by Virginia Natural Gas to state regulators Friday.

Virginia Natural Gas informed the State Corporation Commission that it would not meet three criteria set by regulators as a condition for their approval of a gas infrastructure expansion by the mandated Dec. 31 deadline.

All three conditions are related to plans for the development of a 1,060 megawatt combined-cycle natural gas plant in Charles City.

Pipeline projects draw criticism for ‘environmental racism’

Bay Journal discusses how pipeline projects draw criticism for ‘environmental racism’. Residents of minority neighborhoods say they bear the brunt of risks from natural gas infrastructure.

Virginians calling in to the State Corporation Commission on May 12 pulled few punches: “environmental racism,” “sacrifice zone,” an “unfair and unjust project.”

Many struggled to get through, repeatedly dropped from the call-in queue for public comment by technical glitches.

But they kept calling back, hammering against a proposal to install yet more natural gas infrastructure in the state — 24 miles of 30-inch pipe, three compressor stations and two large gas plants.

Walmart blasts Virginia regulator’s report on pricing, biomass in Dominion’s proposed 100% renewable energy tariff

Utility Dive discusses Walmart’s reaction to a Virginia regulator’s report on pricing, biomass in Dominion’s proposed 100% renewable energy tariff.

  • Walmart, one of Dominion Energy’s largest customers in Virginia, warned regulators that their consideration of the utility’s plan to offer a 100% renewable energy option to C&I and residential customers includes unreasonable pricing, according to a Monday filing.
  • An April report from Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) hearing examiner Mary Beth Adams recommended approving Dominion’s proposed tariff. The utility largely approves of Adams’s recommendations and wants to see the tariff approved quickly, to prevent customers from leaving its service.
  • Walmart, alongside renewable energy advocates, said the premium would be paid for an inferior product, as it would include “energy that most customers do not consider to be renewable,” such as co-fired coal and biomass units. The company has long-opposed the tariff but noted a litany of oversights in the net-positive report from Adams.

Study: The Atlantic Coast Pipeline is looking like a riskier investment every day

The Virginia Mercury discusses why the Atlantic Coast Pipeline is looking like a riskier investment every day.

Proposed gas-fired plants will likely continue to decline. The economic shutdown caused by the coronavirus has reduced electricity demand. A Wood Mackenzie study predicts it might take up to several years before usage returns to present levels. When the ACP is scheduled to begin operation, S&P Global reports there will be 35 percent excess generation in the region from which Virginia draws its power; growing to 60 percent excess by 2027. Duke Energy’s utilities forecast capacity beyond what is needed for reliability.

Virginia lawmakers agreed to join a regional carbon market. Here’s what happens next.

Virginia Mercury discusses RGGI. Virginia lawmakers agreed to join a regional carbon market. Here’s what happens next.

A year after Republican resistance stalled Virginia’s effort to cap carbon emissions from large producers of the greenhouse gas at the forefront of climate change, the wheels are again in motion: Virginia is joining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.

Joining the cap-and-invest program was one of Democrats’ top legislative priorities for the 2020 General Assembly session. Thanks to their majorities in both the House of Delegates and the Senate, they achieved their goal on mostly, but not quite, party-line votes. Gov. Ralph Northam has also supported the state’s participation, although several technical amendments he’s proposed related to fund administration still have to be approved by the reconvened General Assembly next week.

“By joining RGGI, Virginia will take part in a proven, market-based program for reducing carbon pollution in a manner that protects consumers,” Northam said in a statement Sunday. “I am proposing important refinements and I look forward to signing it into law soon.”

 

New Bills Challenge Scope of Dominion’s Power

This NPR article discusses how new legislation is challenging Dominion Energy’s power in the Virginia legislature.

For years, Dominion Energy has been one of the most powerful business interests in Virginia’s legislature.

But a handful of bills seek to challenge the energy monopoly’s reign in a newly-Democratic General Assembly whose newest members have distanced themselves from the company.

One top target for environmentalists and consumer protection groups is increased regulatory oversight of the company, which they say has been greatly weakened over the last two decades.

The Fair Energy Bills Act, which is sponsored by a veteran Republican lawmaker and a young Democrat, would allow the State Corporation Commission (SCC) more oversight over the rates the company charges consumers.

Virginia regulators reject Dominion renewable energy tariff

This article by Ivy Main of the Sierra Club describes the impact of the VA SCC rejecting Dominion Energy’s latest energy tariff.

Virginia’s State Corporation Commission (SCC) has rejected Dominion Energy Virginia’s application for approval of a new rate schedule “CRG” under which it would offer renewable energy to large users of energy.

The SCC concluded Dominion had failed to show the tariff would result in “just and reasonable rates.” The Commission focused especially on two issues. First, the tariff relied on a formula made up of a long list of unknown variables including half a dozen different cost and price forecasts, producing “simply too much uncertainty and subjectivity.”