RD414 - Assessing the Updated Integrated Resource Plan of Any Investor-owned Incumbent Electric Utility as Required by Chapter 6 of the 2015 Virginia Acts of Assembly


Executive Summary:
In accordance with Chapter 6 of the 2015 Virginia Acts of Assembly ("Chapter 611), the State Corporation Commission ("Commission") is pleased to provide a report to the Governor and the General Assembly outlining its assessments of integrated resource plans ("IRP") filed annually by investor-owned electric utilities and the impact of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's ("EPA") Final Rule under § 111(d) of the Federal Clean Air Act ("Final Rule"). The EPA issued its Final Rule on August 3, 2015,(*1) which included significant modifications to the EPA's proposed rules that were issued in 2014.

The most recent IRPs filed by Virginia's electric utilities, Dominion Virginia Power ("DVP"), Appalachian Power Company ("APCo") and Kentucky Utilities Company d/b/a Old Dominion Power Company ("KU"), were filed on July 1, 2015, prior to the issuance of the Final Rule and consequently did not address the implications of the Final Rule for future generation expansion plans. The Final Rule is quite complex and offers numerous options to states for developing state implementation plans. Such plans have not yet been issued and efforts to develop implementation plans are ongoing. In the absence of state implementation plans and responsive IRP filings, the Commission cannot offer any definitive analysis on how the Final Rule will impact at this time "the amount, reliability, and type of generation facilities needed to serve Virginia native load" or the specific impact on the rates paid by Virginia's electricity consumers. The Commission will continue to assess the Final Rule and related developments as part of an ongoing effort to better understand the ultimate implications of the Final Rule. We expect that the 2016 IRPs to be filed next May will enable us to provide you with more detailed information on the impacts of the Final Rule in our report next year.
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(*1) The Final Rule was published in the Federal Register on October 23, 2015. Carbon Pollution Emission Guidelines for Existing Stationary Sources: Electric Utility Generating Units, 80 Fed. Reg. 64,662, Final Rule (Oct. 23, 2015).