Category: Energy
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The Rest of the Story on the Dominion Fuel Price Hike
by Steve Haner The stories making the round last week about Dominion Energy’s bill increase for fuel were blatantly incomplete, as were Dominion’s communications on the matter. Here is what the utility and the well-tamed Virginia “news” media have not told you. The $8 per month reported as the impact on a typical residential customer…
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Solar Farms Come Up Short
by Kerry Dougherty No offense to ordinary, decent schizophrenics, but Virginia Democrats appear to be suffering from this or a similar mental disorder. And they’re off their meds. Examples abound, but here’s just one: The left-wing radicals who once were tree-huggers, have morphed into lovers of solar panels. As far as these loons are concerned,…
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Digital Future – Build It the Right Way
by Chris Saxman Too often, conversations about data centers are presented as an either-or: tech companies versus local communities, or economic growth versus environmental protection. That is the wrong debate. The real challenge is whether communities, businesses, utilities, investors and public leaders can work together to support the infrastructure a growing digital economy requires while…
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PJM’s Heat Wave Warning
The grid runs on reality, not wishful rhetoric by Derrick Max The July heat wave that pushed PJM toward record electricity demand should force Virginia policymakers to confront an uncomfortable truth: the electric grid does not run on mandates, slogans or wishful thinking. It runs on power that is available when people need it. During…
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PJM Probably Reached Record Demand Thursday
by Steve Haner A proprietary energy industry newsletter shared with Bacon’s Rebellion reports that the PJM Interconnection regional electricity grid probably set a summer record for demand on Thursday, July 2. The old peak of 165,563 megawatts in the 13-state region was seen in 2006. The system maintained its service by activating demand reduction programs forcing…
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Nothing in Commonwealth
by Joe Thomas As July begins, Virginians brace for higher gas taxes, hoping that the $68 price of a barrel of crude oil will start to bring the price at the pump back down. However, they will very soon be hit with a 7% increase in their electric bills. Iran? No. Trump tariffs? No. This is…
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Spanberger, Assembly Pass on Meddling With Dominion Sale
by Steve Haner The most important energy outcome of recent legislative wrestling over Virginia’s energy-focused state budget is what it didn’t include. Governor Abigail Spanberger (D) and the legislators did not meddle with the plan for Florida’s NextEra Energy to acquire Dominion Energy. The application for that transaction (it is not a merger, but…
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Virginia’s Gas Tax Increase: What Drivers Need to Know
by Rich Tucker Drivers in the commonwealth will pay more for gas beginning on Wednesday. This isn’t because of the recent legislative budget deal. It isn’t because of a war in the Middle East. It isn’t because of a pipeline shutdown. It’s because lawmakers put tax policy on cruise control years ago, and prices just…
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Thanks to Heat Wave, RGGI Will Bite Fast and Hard
by Steve Haner There is some irony in how Virginia will reenter the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) carbon tax scheme on Wednesday just as a long and deep heatwave begins. It is safe to predict that every RGGI-covered coal and natural gas generation plant in the state will be running full tilt until next…
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Coop Customers (But Not NOVEC) May Now Get RGGI Rebates
by Steve Haner Governor Abigail Spanberger’s proposed amendment to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative rebate system will give most but not all residential customers of Virginia’s rural electric cooperatives a shot at some cash back. The Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative is still in the RGGI wilderness. The feeding frenzy over the RGGI carbon tax dollars,…
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Europe Sizzles While Americans Stay Cool
by Kerry Dougherty If 1967 was the summer of love, 1985 was the summer of sweat. For me, anyway. I spent a lot of time on the beach 31 years ago. Over the roar of the surf I could hear Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” blaring from boomboxes, vying with Huey Lewis’ “The Power of Love.”…
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Debunking Data Center Myths
by Jeff Reynolds You’ve heard the stories. Data centers are loud, water-guzzling monsters chewing up rural landscapes. They promise jobs but deliver none. They’ll suck the grid dry, jack up everyone’s electric bill, overload the power grid, and leave abandoned warehouses when the AI bubble bursts. Opponents paint them as the latest corporate scam, with…
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Assembly To Data Centers: “Here’s Your Hat, There’s the Door”
by Steve Haner The energy regulatory provisions buried in the final conference report on Virginia’s 2026-2028 budget, approved by the General Assembly Monday, are as complex and detailed as any of the energy bills reviewed earlier during the regular session. They are also just as damaging. The data center industry was a particular target. The…
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RGGI Rebates for Some Ordered in New Budget Language
The pending conference report on adopting a new Virginia state budget includes a process to rebate the cost of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative’s carbon tax, but only to smaller customers and only if their utility is charging them for it directly. Larger energy users, especially the largest industrial, commercial and data customers, will still…
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Spanberger Administration Wants Your Energy Input
The Spanberger Administration is preparing to draft the state energy policy required by law and has created a public survey form to seek your individual or corporate input. You will find the survey form here. It is five pages, with not a lot of depth, but there are plenty of open panels to provide comments on…