RD99 - Annual Executive Summary of Commission on Electric Utility Regulation


    Executive Summary:
    Pursuant to Chapter 31 (§ 30-201 et seq.) of Title 30 of the Code of Virginia, the Commission on Electric Utility Regulation ("Commission") is charged with monitoring the State Corporation Commission's implementation of the Virginia Electric Utility Regulation Act.

    The Commission has 120 members: four members of the Senate and six members of the House of Delegates. Senator Thomas K. Norment, Jr., served as the Commission's chairman. The other Senate members are Senators Kenneth W. Stolle, John C. Watkins, and Richard L. Saslaw. The House of Delegates members are Delegates Terry G. Kilgore, Robert Tata, Timothy D. Hugo, William R. Janis, Kenneth R. Plum, and James M. Scott.

    Staffing was provided by Patricia Lung from the Office of the Clerk of the Senate and Ellen Porter from the Division of Legislative Services

    Meetings

    The Commission on Electric Utility Regulation met once during the 2009 Regular Session of the General Assembly to review several items of legislation that had been introduced including: SB 1253 (Deeds); SB 1273 (Vogel); SB 1339 (Herring); HB 1705 (Poisson); HB 1994 (Bulova); HB 2000 (Vanderhye); HB 2105 (McClellan); HB 2155 (Toscano); HB 2173 (Hogan); HB 2315 (Carrico); HB 2371 (Nutter); HB 2372 (Nutter); and HB 2519 (Philips). The Commission declined to recommend all but three items of legislation.

    The Commission recommended SB 1339 and HB 2105, which are duplicates, direct the State Corporation Commission to take into account, when considering requests for a certificate, permit, or approval for a generation facility, whether the facility is consistent with the utility's integrated resource plan. The measures also (i) establishes a fourth voluntary renewable portfolio standard goal of 15 percent by 2025; (ii) allows utilities to recover costs of designing and operating demand management, conservation, energy efficiency, and load management programs, including an enhanced rate of return on capital invested in energy efficiency, including advanced metering infrastructure, of 200 basis points for between three and seven years; (iii) requires utilities to develop tariffs offering real-time variable rates; and (iv) requires that rates for utility payments to eligible customer-generators under a net energy metering program be not less than the rate the utility charges its customers for electricity provided 100 percent from renewable energy.

    The Commission also recommended HB 2000, which directs the State Corporation Commission to encourage investor-owned electric utilities to file tariffs with rate structures that reflect time of day and seasonal cost differentials. In proceedings that involve a new or amended retail rate structure, the Commission is directed to consider several factors, including the extent to which the rates are designed to align with the utility's marginal cost of providing service at different times of the day. In such rate structure proceedings, electric utilities may seek, and the Commission may approve, financial incentives for the implementation of creative rate options that would allow the utility and its customers to share the economic benefits of rate structures that lower the utility's fuel costs. The measure also directs the Commission to give the highest level of priority in its development of the electric energy consumer education program to efforts to increase consumer awareness and knowledge of electricity rate structures and the overall cost of electricity.

    Additional information regarding the Commission on Electric Utility Regulation's activities is available through its website at http://dls.state.va.us/ELECUTIL.HTM. The Commission does not intend to submit a further report for publication.