Minimum energy and water conservation standards; heating, ventilation, and air conditioning facilities and home appliances; Department of Energy; prohibited practices; penalty. Provides that if any product or product categories under the federal Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975 (the EPCA) are removed by the U.S. Secretary of Energy or the federal government, the Department of Energy shall adopt energy or water conservation standards that shall be equivalent to the last applicable federal standards with a product compliance date of on or before December 31, 2025. The bill prohibits any such new products from being sold, offered for sale, leased, or rented in the Commonwealth unless such products meet or exceed such standards. The bill excludes any energy or water conservation standards set aside by a court or any product if federal law preempts the application of the minimum energy and water conservation standards to such a product, including any product or product categories where there is a requirement to develop a standard under the EPCA.
Electric utilities; pilot programs for energy assistance and weatherization for certain individuals. Amends annual funding commitments for the purposes of the annual pilot program for energy assistance and weatherization for low-income, elderly, and disabled individuals conducted by Dominion Energy Virginia and Appalachian Power Company. Under the bill, Appalachian Power Company is required to continue its pilot program at no less than $1 million and no greater than $1.5 million annually. Dominion Energy Virginia is required to continue its pilot program at no less than $156 million and no greater than $204 million for the time period beginning July 1, 2026, and ending July 1, 2038. The bill extends the sunset date of such pilot programs from July 1, 2028, to July 1, 2038.The bill also provides that Dominion Energy Virginia may recover costs associated with certain electrical facilities that have been approved by the State Corporation Commission as of December 1, 2033, provided that certain requirements are met and notwithstanding any limitations on such cost recovery in current law. The bill directs Dominion Energy Virginia to propose to the Commission, in any proceeding to determine rates for generation and distribution services commencing after January 1, 2027, and before July 1, 2033, that certain costs related to capacity procurement requirements and distribution infrastructure investments are allocated to the utility's customer class approved to serve customers with a contracted or measured electric demand of 25 megawatts or greater and an anticipated or measured average annual electric load factor of 75 percent or greater. The bill provides that certain customers in manufacturing, industrial, or consumer goods warehousing and distribution activities other than data storage may elect to remain on their existing rate schedule. The bill requires Dominion Energy Virginia, in connection with its first proceeding to determine rates for generation and distribution services commencing after July 1, 2026, to include in its petition to the Commission a proposal to revise its tariff for supplementary, maintenance, or standby service for customers with power plants, effective as of January 1, 2028. The bill provides that the Commission shall only approve such proposal if it determines that such tariff will not adversely affect other retail customers or the utility in a manner contrary to the public interest, and any revised tariff terms shall include protections against stranded cost risks to the utility customer base. Additionally, the bill authorizes Dominion Energy Virginia to file a petition for the securitization of certain deferred fuel costs.
Electric utilities; pilot program for electric energy conservation, generation, and storage. Requires American Electric Power and Dominion Energy Virginia to each petition the State Corporation Commission by December 31, 2026, to conduct a pilot program for electric energy conservation, solar energy generation, and energy storage resources for low-income, elderly, and disabled individuals. The bill directs the Commission to convene a technical conference to evaluate the creation of an energy efficiency program meeting certain requirements by November 1, 2026. Under the bill, if the Commission determines that such a program is feasible for implementation by American Electric Power and Dominion Energy Virginia, the Commission shall require such utilities to petition for approval by May 1, 2027, to implement such programs. The bill has an expiration date of July 1, 2034. This bill is identical to HB 1062.
Electric utilities; integrated resource plans; State Corporation Commission to investigate electric load forecasting practices. Requires Dominion Energy to provide information related to forecasting its compliance with renewable energy portfolio standards in its integrated resource plan submitted to the State Corporation Commission, excluding information related to accelerated renewable energy buyers or customers purchasing electricity from a licensed supplier. The bill also directs the Commission to initiate a proceeding no later than March 1, 2027, to investigate electric load forecasting practices by Dominion Energy, Appalachian Power Company, and electric distribution cooperatives.
Electric utilities; energy storage resources; Department of Energy to develop model ordinances; State Corporation Commission to conduct technology demonstration program. Increases the targets for energy storage capacity that Appalachian Power and Dominion Energy Virginia are required to petition the State Corporation Commission (the Commission) for approval to construct, acquire, or procure and extends the time frame by which such capacity must be met. Under the bill, (i) Appalachian Power shall petition the Commission for approval to construct, acquire, or procure at least 780 megawatts of short-duration energy storage capacity by 2040 and 520 megawatts of long-duration energy storage capacity by 2045 and (ii) Dominion Energy Virginia shall petition the Commission for approval to construct, acquire, or procure at least 16,000 megawatts of short-duration energy storage capacity by 2045 and 4,000 megawatts of long-duration energy storage capacity by 2045. "Long-duration energy storage" and "short-duration energy storage" are defined in the bill. Under the bill, the Commission shall approve an independent auditor to help develop criteria for and to help review requests for proposals for new energy storage resources. The bill requires the Commission to conduct a technology demonstration program for long-duration energy storage resources and initiate a proceeding to determine if such technology is viable and that the targets in the bill are reasonably achievable, for which a final order shall be entered no later than March 1, 2031. Certain provisions of the bill are only effective upon such determination by the Commission. The bill requires the Department of Energy, in consultation with the Department of Environmental Quality and the Department of Fire Programs, to develop model ordinances suggested for use by localities in their regulation of energy storage projects by December 1, 2026. The bill directs the Commission to initiate a technical conference by September 1, 2026, to evaluate safety standards and practices for energy storage development. The bill also includes a provision authorizing the Commission to evaluate energy storage project proposals during annual petitions filed for the development of new renewable generation capacity. This bill is identical to HB 895.
Electric utility integrated resource planning; energy storage resources. Requires Dominion Energy, as part of its integrated resource plan, to assess the use of energy storage resources through appropriate modeling that accounts for economic charge and discharge times and represents various economic scenarios. The bill also requires systematic evaluation of and permits proposing investments in energy storage resources in the integrated resource plan.
Electric utilities; pilot program for electric energy conservation, generation, and storage. Requires American Electric Power and Dominion Energy Virginia to each petition the State Corporation Commission by December 31, 2026, to conduct a pilot program for electric energy conservation, solar energy generation, and energy storage resources for low-income, elderly, and disabled individuals. The bill directs the Commission to convene a technical conference to evaluate the creation of an energy efficiency program meeting certain requirements by November 1, 2026. Under the bill, if the Commission determines that such a program is feasible for implementation by American Electric Power and Dominion Energy Virginia, the Commission shall require such utilities to petition for approval by May 1, 2027, to implement such programs. The bill has an expiration date of July 1, 2034. This bill is identical to SB 327.
Clean energy and community flood preparedness; market-based trading program. Directs the Department of Environmental Quality and the State Air Pollution Control Board to establish and maintain a market-based trading program consistent with the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative program, as defined in existing law, to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from electricity generating units in the Commonwealth. This bill is identical to HB 397.
Land development; solar canopies in parking areas. Provides that any locality may include in its land development ordinances a provision that requires that an applicant must install a solar canopy over designated surface parking areas. Such provisions shall apply only to nonresidential parking areas with 100 or more new off-street contiguous parking spaces and may require coverage of up to 50 percent of the surface parking area. The bill provides that an ordinance adopted pursuant to this bill shall be subject to various additional requirements and shall allow for deviations, in whole or in part, from the requirements of the ordinance when its strict application would prevent the development of uses and densities otherwise allowed by the locality's zoning or development ordinance or when a property owner shows that the solar canopy, if installed as otherwise required under the ordinance, will generate less than 75 percent of the electricity that would be expected, given the nameplate capacity of the solar modules installed on such canopy, if the canopy were to be installed at another location in the locality without surrounding impediments to insolation such as buildings or shading vegetation. Finally, the bill provides that the applicant or owner may use the electric energy generated from such solar canopy to offset the consumption of the parking lot or adjoining building served under the same account. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2027. This bill incorporates HB 457 and is identical to SB 26.
Pilot program for underground transmission lines; qualifying projects; levy; report. Authorizes the State Corporation Commission, in reviewing any application submitted by a public utility for a certificate of public convenience and necessity for the construction of an electrical transmission line of 500 kilovolts filed between January 1, 2025, and July 1, 2033, to approve up to four applications for qualifying projects to be constructed in whole or in part underground as part of the pilot program for underground transmission lines and to provide an expedited review of any such application. The bill removes certain provisions related to the existing pilot program. Under the bill, a project shall be qualified if (i) the Commission finds that an engineering analysis demonstrates that it is technically feasible to place the proposed line in whole or in part underground, (ii) the application contains certain information regarding projections of project costs, (iii) the application contains evidence that the governing body of each locality in which at least a portion of the proposed line will be placed underground supports the project's inclusion in the program and agrees to meet its related funding obligations, and (iv) the Commission finds the overall cost of the project reasonable and consistent with the public interest. The bill permits the Commission to deny an application for a project that otherwise meets the criteria to qualify, provided that the Commission publicly shares its rationale for doing so.The bill requires at least 50 percent of the marginal costs, as defined in the bill, of the portion of a qualifying project chosen to be placed underground within a locality pursuant to its provisions to be paid by such locality. The bill permits such a locality to meet such requirement through imposing a levy on electric utility customers within the locality, issuing a general obligation bond subject to a referendum, or allocating its own funds. The bill extends the Commission's final report deadline for the pilot program from December 1, 2024, to December 1, 2034.
