During the 2018 General Assembly session, legislation was approved related to electric utility regulation, grid modernization, and energy efficiency requiring Appalachian Power (APCo) and Dominion Energy Virginia (DEV) to utilize a stakeholder process to gather and receive input and feedback for the development of proposed energy efficiency programs. The intended result of the process is to have petitions that are filed with the State Corporation Commission (SCC) for its review and approval, that have included input of knowledge and expertise of energy efficiency stakeholders as well as their feedback so that implementation will contribute to the desired energy conservation goals of the state.

Chapter 397 of the 2019 Virginia Acts of the Assembly, as directed by § 56-585.1 of the Code of Virginia, mandates that the process must be facilitated by an independent monitor, to ensure representation of stakeholders, progress toward obtaining input and feedback, and to report on the stakeholder process objectives, stakeholder recommendations, the status of the recommendations, and status of petition filings. This report, describing the fourth year of the stakeholder process, by the independent monitor is submitted in accordance with Chapter 397.

Stakeholder Process

Between July 1, 2022, the submission date of the last annual report, and June 30, 2023, the stakeholder groups for Appalachian Power (Phase I Utility) have met twice and Dominion Energy Virginia (Phase II Utility) have met three times. Meetings were used to inform stakeholders of the status of program recommendations from previous years, develop program recommendations for the utilities’ next filing, and to discuss topics of interest raised by the stakeholders, including discussions of recommended program performance through EM&V reports. For the Phase I Utility, a subgroup was convened to discuss the possibility of adding solar projects to its portfolio. For the Phase II Utility subgroup meetings of the Non-Residential Programs and Innovation subgroups were held during the report period to discuss related topics and ideas. The Innovation subgroup met twice to review pilot program ideas submitted by process stakeholders. In addition, a Customer Awareness and Outreach subgroup was established and will hold its first meeting in July 2023.

The Appalachian Power stakeholder group has 165 current members, and the Dominion Energy Virginia stakeholder group has 324 current members, which represents an increase of 1.9 percent and a 5.2 percent respectively for each group, compared to the previous year. Each utility’s stakeholder group represents over 20 different types of organizations, including the utilities, SCC, Virginia Department of Energy, local governments, energy conservation organizations, energy efficiency organizations, program implementers, and low-income advocacy and assistance organizations.

Stakeholder Objectives

For the 2023 filing year, the independent monitor did not facilitate the development of specific programmatic or process objectives by the stakeholders as part of the stakeholder meetings. Stakeholders, including each respective utility, had a unique set of circumstances they wanted to address in the filing year. For APCo, the petition filing cadence had been set at every two years and no programs had been proposed in 2022. For 2023, APCo worked with stakeholders to identify programs to enhance current and expiring offerings. APCo also explored the possibility of designing a solar pilot program. For DEV, there was discussion related to a new contract for customer awareness and outreach and the establishment of a customer awareness and outreach subgroup. Additionally, stakeholder efforts were focused on generating ideas for pilot projects that could be included in DEV’s 2023 filing.

2023 Program Recommendations

In preparation for the 2023 filings, the stakeholders provided input and feedback on program design ideas for the utilities’ consideration. The input and feedback were developed during stakeholder meetings, and stakeholders could submit program proposals using program design templates that could be submitted to the independent monitor and utilities after the meetings. The table on page vi of the report summarizes the recommendations from the stakeholder process.