
The annual revenue required from Virginia customers to finance Dominion Energy Virginia’s offshore wind installation. It peaks at about $800 million in 2027, driving the amount to be collected on monthly bills. Source: SCC Testimony. Click for larger view.
by Steve Haner
If the project goes as planned, the consumer cost for Dominion Energy Virginia’s offshore wind installation will rapidly rise to a peak in 2027 and then descend annually over the following 20 years. If it produces power for 30 years, in the final phase the revenue related to the project will exceed the remaining capital costs.
What is this going to cost Dominion’s captive ratepayers? There is also a related but often ignored question: which of those customers did the Virginia General Assembly exempt from those costs, effectively bumping up the price to those not exempt?
In its promotional materials, Dominion often mentions a figure of under $5 per month as the average cost over the years for that mythical residential customer using exactly 1,000 kilowatt hours per month. That smooths out the coming climb and descent shown in the illustration above, and assumes the projections of net positive years come to pass.
For that residential customer, the 2027 peak is estimated at $14.21 a month, or $170 per year, and then it ramps down gradually. It will be over $100 more per year for long stretch, and plenty of customers use well over 1,000 kwh per month. One electric vehicle will drive that up nicely. For commercial and industrial customers it will be equally significant.
It would be less if everybody paid, but everybody will not. Continue reading