Bills are flying through the General Assembly this session! All of the bills we have been working on have already gone through committee meetings and I’m happy to announce that one of our RPS reform bills, Del. McClellan’s HB 1166, has unanimously passed the house and its companion, Sen. McEachin’s SB 382, will most likely sail through the Senate by the end of the week!

 

These bills add specific reporting requirements the utilities need to include in their annual reports on how they are meeting the RPS. If we, the ratepayers, are going to give Dominion $76 million over two years for participating in this program then shouldn’t we know how they are accomplishing these goals? Right now, it takes perseverance and a good lawyer to make this kind of information available, which is completely absurd. If and when this bill becomes law, the utilities will have to be a little more transparent with how they are meeting our voluntary RPS.

While we are pleased to have added more transparency to the process, we are dismayed that the Virginia General Assembly refuses to strengthen the RPS itself. HB 657, co-patroned by Del. Rust and Del. Toscano would have ensured that electric utilities were earning their RPS bonuses by investing in new clean energy facilities and creating jobs for Virginians. We may not have won this battle, this time around, but you can be sure we will be back at the General Assembly next year demanding a stronger RPS.