Tag: Stephen D. Haner
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One Commission to Rule Energy and In the Darkness Bind Us
by Steve Haner A legislative commission created in 2008 to oversee one narrow function of two electric utilities is about to expand its scope of oversight of all forms of energy in Virginia, including nuclear, coal, and natural gas. It will be the legislative counterpart – and counterweight – to the politically independent State Corporation…
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Batteries in VA Equal to PJM Demand? That’s Truly Nuts.
by Steve Haner Proposed legislation to require Virginia’s two main electric utilities to load up on battery storage in the next 20 years has now been introduced, and the target battery amounts for Dominion Energy Virginia grew even larger than in the version of the bill previewed by a study commission in December. It is…
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RECs are Costly Pretend Renewable Power the VCEA Makes Us Buy
by Steve Haner A key, but poorly understood, provision of the Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA) is a requirement that Virginia’s two largest electric utilities must either generate or purchase a growing number of renewable energy certificates (RECs). Eventually their RECs must equal 100% of their non-nuclear generation. What are RECs and why do they…
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Dancing on the Watery Grave of CVOW
By Steve Haner, As it becomes clear that the 90-day pause of the Dominion Energy Virginia offshore wind project is probably its final death rattle, the folks who encouraged the Trump Administration to kill it are looking to shift the blame to outgoing Virginia Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin. One of the organizations that filed a…
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A 10% Tax on Your Fantasy Football, Baseball?
by Steve Haner, Forget raising the income or sales tax, it appears the 2026 Virginia General Assembly may try to balance the state budget by imposing a new 10% tax on all the sports fantasy game players in the Commonwealth. Just when you think you know all the nooks and crannies of state government, another…
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2026 Battery Bill is Still in Flux but Will Be Great!
by Steve Haner Advocates for adding massive amounts of battery storage to Virginia’s electric grid held a news conference Wednesday to claim again their upcoming bill will lower energy costs, not raise them, but added that the legislation they will push is still being drafted. The 2026 General Assembly session starts in a week, and…
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Dominion Describes Efforts to Limit Turbine Radar Interference
By Steve Haner Dominion Energy Virginia’s team building its offshore wind facility spent years working with the U.S. Navy and the air defense agency NORAD on ways to mitigate the problems that would be caused by the 836-foot-tall turbines, reaching several agreements, the utility has told a federal court. The company – meaning ultimately the…
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PJM Capacity Prices Tick Even Higher Into 2028
by Steve Haner The regional electric grid operator that serves Virginia held another of its periodic auctions to secure sufficient supply for the future last week and the price went up again, slightly higher than in last summer’s auction. Even worse news, PJM Interconnection fell short of securing its target amount needed to guarantee reliability. PJM…
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FLASH: Trump Administration Stops CVOW Construction Work
by Steve Haner I was wondering why Dominion Energy had not issued its quarterly report on the progress of its Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) project, or why when down there earlier this month, watching with binoculars from a high hotel room, I could see no sign of any activity on the construction site. Now we…
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Youngkin Budget Proposes Partial State Deduction for Tips, OT
by Steve Haner Governor Glenn Youngkin has proposed that Virginia conform its tax rules to most of the changes in federal taxes adopted by Congress last summer, including recognizing a state tax deduction for tip income, overtime pay and interest payments on car loans. Those tax policy recommendations are part of the Republican’s final…
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$62 Billion For Grid Batteries is Not a Path to Affordability
By Steve Haner The 2026 General Assembly is likely to amend the Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA) to greatly expand the construction of utility-scale batteries for our electric grid. Based on the current prices for Virginia battery installations, this may saddle ratepayers with $54 billion in new capital expenses over 20 years. The Commission on…
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RGGI Tax Rose Again. How, When Does it Return to VA?
by Steve Haner, The regional carbon tax on electricity generation favored by Governor-elect Abigail Spanberger and legislative Democrats rose to a record amount in the December auction, $26.73 per ton of carbon emissions. That is a 20% increase from three months ago and is 4% higher than the previous top price, set last year. The…
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The SCC Decides: Dominion’s Rates and Profits Go Up, New Rules on Data Centers
by Steve Haner, The massive data centers behind a growing energy crunch in Virginia will begin to pay substantially more for electricity in Dominion Energy’s territory, but not until 2027. The State Corporation Commission’s (SCC) approval of a new rate structure for the largest users will probably only intensify debates about what is their “fair…
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Gas Approval Infuriates a Huge Donor to Democrats, Elates Another
by Steve Haner, The State Corporation Commission (SCC) was able to approve Dominion Energy Virginia’s application for a needed natural gas generation facility because the Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA) includes a safety valve. If energy reliability is threatened, the prohibitions on natural gas at the heart of that law can be waived. One of…
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High Cost Kills One, Maybe Two Clean Economy Act Projects
by Steve Haner Citing the high cost, the Virginia State Corporation Commission on Friday denied a request to add a battery project to the Appalachian Power Company grid. In the same decision, an out-of-state wind project for Appalachian was approved, but only if it qualifies for major federal tax credits to keep down the cost. Without those tax credits,…