By Brett A. Vassey, 

Spoiler alert! This is not an article about a new board game, but about a game in which the Virginia General Assembly writes the rules and picks the winners.

House Bill 2087 was introduced by Delegate Irene Shin, D-Fairfax. It cleared the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee on a narrow 7-6 vote Monday and is pending in the full Senate. At first glance, it looks like the usual game—an electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure subsidy. However, the bill creates an entirely new game of monopoly for Virginia’s consumers. The bill gives existing investor-owned electric utility monopolies the entire transportation fuel sector to monopolize as well. 

How is that possible?

The bill expressly allows only two existing electric monopolies to produce the electricity, distribute the electricity, and retail the electricity for transportation fuel (a.k.a., fast chargers) to consumers. The bill’s core is the “transportation electrification” of all “passenger vehicles, trucks, buses, trains, boats, or other equipment that transport materials, goods, or people.”

Why should you care if you do not drive an electric vehicle?

By 2035, you may only be able to purchase zero-emission vehicles (ZEV) in the Commonwealth. In 2021, the Virginia General Assembly passed a ZEVs law governing the sale of motor vehicles with a gross vehicle weight of 14,000 pounds or less beginning with the 2025 model year. Specifically, politicians created a mazelike set of rules that directed the Virginia Air Pollution Control Board to create regulations that would force Virginians to be subject to the California Air Resources Board (CARB) regulations for new vehicle sales under § 177 of the federal Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. § 7507). CARB has now mandated that all new passenger cars, trucks, and SUVs sold must be ZEVs by 2035, and this applies to Virginia. Although Governor Youngkin and AG Miyares have temporarily removed Virginia from this mandate, it is still the law, and advocates are simply waiting until this fall’s gubernatorial election to reinstate California’s ZEV mandates on Virginians.                     

Why is this a problem?

The monopoly power delegated by Virginia voters, through their elected representatives, to investor-owned electric companies was granted in 2007 (Virginia Electric Utility Re-Regulation Act). That authority was exclusively for generating, distributing, and transmitting electricity to residential, commercial, and industrial consumers—not the retail sale of transportation fuel (see Virginia Code § 56-581).

Virginia’s transportation fuel sector is a highly competitive market valued at over $20 billion. According to the Virginia Department of Energy’s Alternative Fuels Data Center, over 5,513 charging ports at 2,131 stations already serve just 111,700 electric and electric hybrid plug-in vehicles registered in Virginia.  Further, according to xMap and VDMV, respectively, 7,539 gas stations are serving 8.4 million registered vehicles in Virginia. There is plenty of competition and opportunity in the private marketplace to increase the availability of fast chargers for EVs. So, how could any private sector retailer compete against a government-empowered monopoly? They cannot.

Where has this worked?

Since California is literally the national ZEV model, let’s review some facts and figures. California, a state with 39 million people (nearly 5 times larger than Virginia) and $4 trillion in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) (over 4 times larger than Virginia), has been working on the ZEV goal for over a decade. Today, they only have 152,356 electric vehicle chargers for 1.5 million ZEVs out of 27.8 million light-duty vehicles, and their sales have been flat since 2023. However, in 2023, the California Public Utilities Commission moved to limit public utility ownership of EV charging stations to prevent monopolization and encourage private investment in charging infrastructure due to its realization that utility ownership of EV charging stations was a failed model.

So, where is the consumer protection?

HB2087 has none. Ironically, the Virginia General Assembly has sustained a 36-year-old law that makes it illegal for automobile manufacturers to own retail outlets (i.e., dealerships). The Virginia General Assembly also sustains a similar law that makes it illegal for a manufacturer of beer to own a retail store that sells its own beer. In other words, if you want to buy a car or a beer in Virginia, there are a multitude of regulations and laws limiting the ability of a manufacturer to also retail his or her products. Yet, when it comes to the energy used for our homes, businesses, or automobiles, the Virginia General Assembly is going to give two companies the entire market along with full monopoly powers. This is the equivalent of giving them all the good “community chest” cards and none of the bad ones.

What is the solution?

Easy… competition and consumer protection. Electric utility reregulation did not contemplate the transportation fuel market takeover by monopoly electric utilities. Virginia’s electric utilities already import more electricity than any other state—estimated to be 36% by recent reports. They are also projecting significant growth in their existing residential, commercial, and industrial markets that they currently cannot meet with wind, solar, and battery storage technology that is also mandated by the Virginia General Assembly to be the only new sources of electricity generation by 2050. 

For central planners, the supply-demand balance of the private marketplace is perplexing. They want it now; therefore, it should be. However, markets take time to develop, and “build it, and they will come” almost never works. Can we incentivize the private marketplace to help meet current demands?  Absolutely! But, as the California experiment demonstrates, one must take many laps around the board to win the game.

Unfortunately, this game has real consequences for consumers, and politicians are playing with our real money. Every business and household in the Commonwealth plays a game where the rules are rigged against them. Prices will never go down, and innovation will rarely improve when there is only one supplier of anything—an immutable truth of markets. Competition works; it is the bedrock of our economy. The choice is simple: do you want a future where the only source of power for your house, business, and automobile is electricity that is provided by one company where 51 (out of 100) Delegates and 21 (out of 40) Senators write the rules? 

If not, contact those Senators today. Tell them that you want to “pass go and collect your $200.00” so they should vote “no” on HB2087.  Be ready to send the same message if needed to the Governor seeking a veto. 

Vassey is President & CEO of the Virginia Manufacturers Association