Tag: VCEA
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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,…
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IRP Part 2: Dominion Bill Projections Just Keep Exploding
By Steve Haner, Two years ago, Dominion Energy Virginia predicted that by 2035 a residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity would pay $174 per month. That represented a 50% increase over the first 15 years of compliance with the Virginia Clean Economy Act. The current bill, just five years into the age of VCEA, is…
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Dominion Says VCEA Compliance Means Many New Nukes
By Steve Haner, If or when Dominion Energy Virginia complies with the Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA) and closes its hydrocarbon generation units, the best way to power Virginia will be a truly massive amount of new nuclear power. That comes from the latest iteration of Dominion’s ever-adjusting integrated resource plan (IRP), filed with the…
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“Clean” Energy Mandates are Raising Power Bills, Not Data Centers
By Steve Haner, No, Virginia, we cannot blame the data centers. The impact of the Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA) on rising electricity bills is more significant and destined to grow. With the cost of living turning up in election polls as a top voter concern, a repeal of the VCEA is one step the…
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More Evidence the VCEA Is Based On a False Premise
By Derrick Max For several years now, Virginians have been told that the Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA) is necessary to save Virginia and is a necessary step to save the planet. We’ve been told that rising seas, worsening storms, and other supposedly catastrophic impacts of man-made climate change justify a radical restructuring of Virginia’s…
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SCC Staff Sees Need for More Gas Because Wind Will “Collapse”
by Steve Haner The staff of the State Corporation Commission (SCC) has concluded that Dominion Energy Virginia cannot meet the energy demands of our data- center based digital economy with renewable energy projects alone, and “does not oppose” adding natural gas. “It is unlikely, in Staff’s opinion, that renewable energy development alone will suffice to…
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SCC Faces Dueling Experts, Models on Future Energy Reliability
By Steve Haner The State Corporation Commission’s (SCC) decision on whether Dominion Energy can build a new natural gas-fired power plant will depend on which expert or set of experts it believes, and which of the many computer models that dominate the testimony it judges best predict Virginia’s energy future. Dominion has filed testimony…
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No, Spanberger Did Not “Embrace” Natural Gas, But Earle-Sears Does
By Steve Haner A recent headline indicated that Abigail Spanberger, Democratic nominee for Governor of Virginia, had “embraced” natural gas in an interview. A reading of the text left a very different conclusion, as in reality what she embraced was the anti-natural gas Virginia Clean Economy Act. Spanberger did tell Inside Climate News that natural gas…
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Four More Dominion Rate Hikes Hitting By Sept. 1
By Steve Haner The State Corporation Commission Friday approved two separate increases in Dominion Energy Virginia’s rates; one caused by the Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA) and the other related to regional transmission services. Combined they add more than $5 to a 1,000-kilowatt hour residential bill effective September 1. The VCEA driven increase is an…
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$104 Billion for Batteries in 5 years, $40K Per Customer
By David Wojick, The Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA) mandates that Dominion Energy Virginia, the state’s major electric utility, rapidly shift its power generation to wind and solar. Dominion’s latest Integrated Resources Plan (IRP) provides dramatic evidence that this shift does not work, making blackouts inevitable. Making it work would be fantastically expensive with the…
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Dominion’s Gas-Dependent IRP Not Accepted or Rejected by SCC
By Steve Haner The State Corporation Commission has judged Dominion Energy Virginia’s latest integrated resource plan (IRP) – the one with controversial proposals for additional use of natural gas— to be merely “legally sufficient.” In its final order issued July 15, the commission applied the term “reasonable” to only a few elements of Dominion’s 15-year…
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This Week Showed Again Wind and Solar Don’t Beat the Heat
By Steve Haner Once again, a spell of hot weather has proven that our economy and comfort depend on hydrocarbon fuels. As you can see from these simple pie graphs from the PJM regional energy market, two-thirds of the electricity sustaining Virginia on a recent hot afternoon was produced by natural gas, oil and coal. …
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NC Assembly Repeals a Key Carbon Emissions Goal
By Steve Haner The North Carolina legislature has retreated from its aggressive targets to reduced hydrocarbon-fueled electricity in the state, eliminating the goal of being 70% carbon free by 2030. Strong Republican majorities in both chambers supported Senate Bill 266 last week, but so did some Democratic legislators. That smattering of Democratic support could weigh…
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Warned Again of Energy Shortfalls, Democrats Again Pretend to Care
By Steve Haner Here we go again. As the 2025 election year heats up and warnings rise about electricity shortfalls this summer, the legislators behind Virginia’s coming ban on hydrocarbon electricity are pretending they see the problem. A May 22 headline out of a recent legislative meeting on energy claimed that “Democratic leadership signals willingness…
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“Green” Mandates, Profit Demands Drive Dominion Price Hikes
By Steve Haner The pending price increase for electricity from Dominion Energy Virginia is higher than the 14% jump reported by the news media, which basically parroted company releases. Should all of Dominion’s current rate applications at the State Corporation Commission be approved, residents and businesses will pay about 20% more. The 1,000-kilowatt hour monthly bill…