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Clean Virginia Wants Stronger Regulation of Monopoly Utility Rates

Clean Virginia

State lawmakers are preparing to meet in Richmond next month, and various interest groups are gearing up to promote change.  Among them a non-profit called Clean Virginia.   The group will push for stronger regulations of monopoly utilities.

In 2015 and 2018 Dominion and Appalachian Power persuaded lawmakers to scale back on state regulation of rates, arguing that they needed more resources to make the transition away from fossil fuels and to modernize the grid.  As a result, Clean Virginia says the average Dominion customer is paying $250 more per year than it would have, and consumers with Appalachian Power are spending about $90 more.

“In total, that’s around $700 million a year," says Clean Virginia's Execurtive Director Brennan Gilmore. "They’ll say that they’re going to use this for infrastructure investments or to put targets on renewable energy – targets which are then never met, and this money sort of disappears into the system.”  

He  says that money should have gone back to consumers.  He says lawmakers like Delegate Sam Rasoul of Roanoke will offer legislation to increase state oversight of utility rates and to ban the use of consumer dollars for lobbying and campaign contributions.  

Sandy Hausman is Radio IQ's Charlottesville Bureau Chief