RD322 - Report of the Commission on Electric Utility Regulation on Proposals Relating to the Regulation of Municipal Electric Utilities: Senate Bill 1396 [2015] and Senate Joint Resolution 300 [2015] - October 9, 2015

  • Published: 2015
  • Author: Commission on Electric Utility Regulation
  • Enabling Authority: Rule 20 (o) of the Rules of the Senate of Virginia (2015)

Executive Summary:
Code § 30-205 grants the Commission on Electric Utility Regulation (the Commission) the following powers and duties:

1. Monitor the work of the State Corporation Commission (SCC) in implementing Chapter 23 (§ 56-576 et seq.) of Title 56, receiving such reports as the Commission may be required to make pursuant thereto, including reviews, analyses, and impact on consumers of electric utility regulation in other states;

2. Examine generation, transmission and distribution systems reliability concerns;

3. Establish one or more subcommittees, composed of its membership, persons with expertise in the matters under consideration by the Commission, or both, to meet at the direction of the chairman of the Commission, for any purpose within the scope of the duties prescribed to the Commission by this section, provided that such persons who are not members of the Commission shall serve without compensation but shall be entitled to be reimbursed from funds appropriated or otherwise available to the Commission for reasonable and necessary expenses incurred in the performance of their duties; and

4. Report annually to the General Assembly and the Governor with such recommendations as may be appropriate for legislative and administrative consideration in order to maintain reliable service in the Commonwealth while preserving the Commonwealth's position as a low-cost electricity market.

Senator Thomas K. Norment, Jr., chairs the Commission and Delegate Jackson H. Miller serves as its vice-chair.

By letters dated March 10, 2015, and May 6, 2015, Susan Clarke Schaar, Clerk of the Senate, advised the chair that the subject matter contained in two items of legislation from the 2015 Session - Senate Bill 1396 and Senate Joint Resolution 300 - had been referred by a standing committee of the General Assembly to the Commission and requested that the chair of the referring committee and the patron of the measure be provided a report thereon by November 1, 2015.

Both Senate Bill 1396 and Senate Joint Resolution 300 involve issues relating to the regulation of municipal electric utilities in the Commonwealth. This report, which is provided by the Commission pursuant to Ms. Schaar's requests, addresses both items of legislation because the issues they raise are integrally related.