A bill to change the way Dominion Virginia Power is regulated received Senate approval in a 32-6 vote Friday after a flurry of floor amendments and last-minute lobbying.
The bill sailed through a Senate committee but was altered several times on the Senate floor to address concerns from Democrats, including Attorney General Mark Herring and Gov. Terry McAuliffe.
Senators who support Dominion’s push to change the regulatory rules introduced amendments designed to shore up support. Senior lawmakers from both parties were seen huddling outside the Senate chamber with Dominion executives midway through the session.
The bill would freeze base rates for Dominion power until 2020. Base rates make up more than half of a customer’s total bill, with the rest of the bill coming from fuel charges and special charges that pay for new power plants or upgrades to the company’s transmission network.
People are also reading…
So customers would be unlikely to see big price increases in the next five years. But customers wouldn’t get a refund if Dominion earns more than it is allowed to under state regulations.
The company says that it won’t earn more than it should. Environmentalists and consumer advocates point out state regulators said last year the company was on pace to earn well more than it should, and in 2009 and 2011 state regulators authorized refunds for customers.
The changes are being driven by proposed regulations from the Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA wants Virginia’s power plants to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 38 percent in the next 15 years.
***
Sen. Steve Newman, R-Forest, was among only six senators to oppose the bill and the only Republican to vote no. He previously cast the lone dissenting vote when the measure was heard in committee.
“To take away the power of base rate review from the state corporation commission is a heavy vote and only should happen in extreme circumstances,” he said in an interview after the committee decision.
Central Virginia customers who’ve seen dramatic increases in their power bills over the years are now poised to see rate reductions under the current regulatory setup, Newman said. Those reductions will be lost under the new proposal.
“I simply can’t vote for a bill I’m pretty sure is going to have a very negative effect on ratepayers in my part of Virginia,” Newman said.
Sen. Frank R. Wagner, R-Virginia Beach and the bill’s sponsor, introduced an amendment that requires Dominion to install at least 500 megawatts of solar power by 2020. The company announced plans Thursday to build at least 400 megawatts of solar power around the state, and last month it said it plans to build a smaller solar facility in Northern Virginia.
Sen. A. Donald McEachin, D-Henrico, said the solar provisions were a key reason he was supporting the bill.
“On this floor today we have created the opportunity for more solar [energy] in Virginia than has ever been had before,” he said. “It’s progress. Not as far as some would like to go, but it is verifiable progress.”
Senate Minority Leader Richard L. Saslaw, D-Fairfax, introduced an amendment that would require Dominion and Appalachian Power to conduct a pilot program that would help poor, elderly and disabled individuals reduce energy bills through financial assistance or programs that would reduce the amount of air that leaks from their homes.
Wagner said the bill was amended over the past month in an effort to balance the concerns of Dominion, large industrial customers and consumer advocates. He said the measure will protect customers until the Environmental Protection Agency issues its final rules on power plant pollution.
“We don’t know what the final regulations will look like and what the courts will rule,” Wagner said. “They may rule it is all a drill and the regulations don’t apply. Or they may rule Virginia must comply with the final regulations as they are written. We have opportunity today to keep every existing plant open until we do know.”
Before senators considered the bill, letters in support of passage were passed around the chamber. MeadWestvaco, Gerdau Long Steel in Dinwiddie County and Smithfield Foods Inc. wrote in to say they supported the measure. Gerdau is the largest user of Dominion electricity.
Sen. J. Chapman “Chap” Petersen, D-Fairfax City, said he voted against the bill because he didn’t think lawmakers were more qualified to set rules and regulations for Dominion than the SCC.
Though Wagner’s original bill applied only to Dominion, it was later amended to freeze rates for Appalachian Power until the end of 2017.
***
John Shepelwich, a spokesman for Appalachian Power, said Dominion and Appalachian Power have very different operations but said his company supports the bill.
“We look at this as a good opportunity to protect customers,” Shepelwich said.
Shepelwich noted Appalachian Power saw sharp rate increases in recent years when it exited the rate freeze that accompanied a return to regulated status. Customers were furious with the price increases.
“We don’t want to see that again,” Shepelwich said. “In our 2014 filing we did not ask for a base rate increase.”
In November the State Corporation Commission ordered Appalachian to refund customers about $5.8 million. The SCC also cut the company’s allowed profit to 9.7 percent from 11.4 percent.
In testimony last month before West Virginia’s energy regulators, Appalachian Power President and Chief Operating Officer Charles Patton said the company was earning more than it should in Virginia and that further refunds could be necessary.
Patton also said the average Appalachian Power customer in Virginia paid $118 per month, while a customer on the West Virginia side of the border paid $97 per month.
“Quite honestly, do I think that the $118 in Virginia is the right number? No, because what’s going to happen in Virginia going forward is what happened in the last rate case,” Patton said. “You’re going to have refunds and you’re going to see that rates begin to level out depending on what additional investment that we have.”
Those refunds would be delayed or canceled under Wagner’s bill. Appalachian Power’s next rate review — which the company’s own president said is likely to include refunds — would be held in 2020, rather than in 2016.
Staff writer Alicia Petska contributed.
