HD36 - Outdoor Electric Lighting

  • Published: 1989
  • Author: State Corporation Commission
  • Enabling Authority: House Joint Resolution 129 (Regular Session, 1988)

Executive Summary:
On March 27, 1978, the State Corporation Commission cancelled the Virginia Electric and Power Company (Virginia Power) tariff for outdoor lighting service available to residential, commercial and industrial customers and, further, directed the elimination of the associated rate treatment. Virginia Power appealed the Commission's action and the State Supreme Court subsequently affirmed the Commission's power to determine whether outdoor lighting service should be treated as public utility function. Vepco v. Corp. Comm., 219 Va. 894 (1979).

House Joint Resolution No. 129 was passed in March 1988 and recognized that outdoor lighting for residential customers was important, particularly for safety in urban and rural areas. The General Assembly therein noted that the installation of outdoor lighting equipment and facilities by electrical contractors was more readily available to industrial and commercial customers than to residential customers. In that resolution the Commission was requested to assess the desirability of authorizing Virginia Power to provide outdoor lighting for residential customers pursuant to tariff. The Commission has reviewed the regulatory history of outdoor lighting in Virginia, considered the availability of such service for residential customers and has taken action as embodied in the attached order.

In summary, Virginia Power filed a proposed schedule on November 23, 1988, which would allow residential outdoor lighting service to be provided as a tariffed service. The tariff was allowed to go into effect pursuant to Virginia Code § 56-240. The Commission thereby authorized Virginia Power to provide such outdoor lighting service to residential customers for a one-year period and to provide quarterly reports to the Commission's Division of Energy Regulation detailing both the requests for service and the number of facilities actually installed. After data is collected the Commission can then more thoroughly consider the merits of such a tariffed service.