Chapter 1 of Special Session II of the 2021 Acts of Assembly requires utilities not subject to regulation by the State Corporation Commission (municipal utilities) to submit information on the status of customer accounts to the Commission on Local Government (CLG).1 Each utility is required to report to the CLG information covering the time period of March 12, 2020 through August 31, 2021. The report covers the following information:

a) The amount of unspent utility assistance funds previously provided under the Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Securities (CARES) Act.

b) The level of outstanding customer arrearages as of August 31, 2021 from March 12, 2020.

c) The number and value of accounts that are at least 60 days in arrears, disaggregated by residential, business, and industrial users.

Upon receipt of such information, the CLG is directed to compile a report and provide it to the Governor and the Chairs of the House Appropriations Committee and Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee by November 1, 2021.

On October 6, 2021, CLG staff shared advanced notice of the reporting requirement and questions with points of contact for municipal utilities and the chief administrative officers for cities, counties, and towns, including a link to a survey for purposes of collecting information for the reporting requirement.2 Responses were received from 120 municipal utilities, which does not appear to account for every municipal utility system that is within the Commonwealth of Virginia; however, an analysis and listing on unresponsive municipal utilities is not provided in this report.3

Please note that the report will be presented to the CLG for formal adoption at their next regularly scheduled meeting on November 4, 2021.