Legislation before Gov. Tim Kaine that would end the state’s failed attempt at electricity deregulation should be seriously amended, according to Fairfax County supervisors who cast the bill as overly kind to the state’s primary electric supplier.
The bill, which passed both houses of the General Assembly earlier this year, would end most consumers’ ability to shop for electricity providers and add a complicated system of state oversight to Dominion Virginia Power.
The state implemented electric “deregulation” in the late 1990s in an unsuccessful attempt to foster competition for Dominion, which never emerged. Under the new system, a state-mandated rate cap would end two years early and the State Corporation Commission would oversee the company’s profits.
In a letter ordered by a board vote on Monday and authored by Chairman Gerald Connolly, officials urged the governor to bring tighter SCC control of profits and to “significantly reduce or eliminate” incentives for new construction.
“While proponents assert that the ‘new regulatory model’ contained in the bill is necessary to build new generation in the region, we are concerned that this ‘new model’ is unproven, and could lead to the most generous treatment of electric utilities in the nation,” Connolly wrote.
The bill’s patrons in the House of Delegates and state Senate could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
Kaine has said he would alter the plan if he determines its consumer-protection provisions are inadequate.
