Proponents of renewable energy and energy choice will need to provide a united front against Virginia’s monopoly utilities in order to overcome entrenched political opposition to reorganizing the state’s power market. Lawmakers tabled two new bills to designed to increase energy freedom in Virginia. More from the Virginia Mercury….
A Senate subcommittee on Wednesday voted down proposals to expand retail competition in Virginia’s energy markets.
“We have traditionally avoided what I would call a partial deregulation,” said Sen. Tommy Norment, R-James City, one of the five senators on the newly formed energy subcommittee. “This is partial deregulation. … There is no way you will persuade me that there is not going to be a cost-shift on this.”
The measures, which were rolled into one bill championed by Democratic Sen. Jeremy McPike of Prince William, would allow energy customers more leeway to buy power from entities other than the reigning utility, particularly when it comes to renewable energy.
They were strongly opposed by both of the state’s two major utilities, the powerful Dominion Energy and Appalachian Power Company, as well as Tony Clark of Loudoun, who formerly served on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
Virginia has seen a growing appetite over the past year for greater retail choice when it comes to energy, but state laws and an unusually complicated regulatory system, coupled with short legislative sessions that give lawmakers little time to delve into the details, have ensured that the monopoly utilities have maintained their tight grip over the market.
Read the full story in the Virginia Mercury.