I strongly support the passage of House Bill No. 1588. This legislation provides crucial consumer protections by limiting the frequency and timing of public utility rate increases. Frequent and unpredictable utility rate hikes place a significant burden on Virginia households and businesses. By restricting the number of increases within a year and prohibiting them during the winter months, this bill offers much-needed relief and predictability for Virginians. I urge the General Assembly to swiftly pass HB1588 and ensure that we are protected from excessive and untimely utility rate increases.

Oppose off shore wind. I’m ground zero in Virginia Beach . I live 500 ft away from offshore/onshore construction at SMR. ITS A NIGHTMARE. Property damage, noisy and diesel dirty. Def not clean energy 18 months of hell and counting.

Please let me know about anything to do with ANY SOLAR or wind. Also why aren't you working on lowering this socialism health obamare that is failing! We pay double our house payment for healthcare. They do a certain percentage of what u make a year. I have to take money out of my 401k for healthcare that counts as income. It shouldn't count as income when you are taxing the heck out of us. We can't travel,most our prescriptions we use to take won't be covered and could go on and on about this robbery of people s hard earned money!

Im writing in opposition to this bill. Nuclear fuel should not be considered a renewable resource.

Comments Document

Oppose HB1875: This bill would evisereate the VCEA in order to subsidize nuclear power - ratepayers are already subject to paying for SMRs before they come online, if they ever do (thanks to the 2024 session). HB1875 would cause UNCERTAINTY and HIGHER electric rates. SMRs CANNOT RELIABLY BE DESIGNED, APPROVED, BUILT and BROUGHT ONLINE on a predictable schedule. Lazard's "Levelized Cost of Energy" proves new nuclear is the MOST EXPENSIVE form of new utility-scale power generation (see pg. 5 of attachment) . SMR projects may be cancelled for numerous reasons. SMRs are DIRTY, creating highly radioactive waste that must be stored on site, since there is no safe universal storage. High-level radioactive waste lasts many thousands of years and makes SMR sites TERRORIST targets. Technology is changing fast. By the time these nuclear facilities would supposedly come on line, ADDITIONAL POWER MAY NOT BE NEEDED. The data industry, which drives the demand for that additional power, may have introduced vastly more efficient technology (https://cse.umn.edu/college/news/researchers-develop-state-art-device-make-artificial-intelligence-more-energy) or contracted to their own power generation sources or simply moved to another state or nation offering greater incentives. From a planning perspective, it makes far more sense to incrementally add renewable generation, paired with geological storage, for 24/7/365 reliable capacity. Most simply, our power bills are already too high. We DON'T need risky, dirty, expensive, unpredictable nuclear power. We DO need the VCEA to continue to support truly renewable energy sources and guide us on a more predictable future path. Please vote to kill HB1875.

Oppose off shore wind. I’m ground zero in Virginia Beach . I live 500 ft away from offshore/onshore construction at SMR. ITS A NIGHTMARE. Property damage, noisy and diesel dirty. Def not clean energy 18 months of hell and counting.

Please let me know about anything to do with ANY SOLAR or wind. Also why aren't you working on lowering this socialism health obamare that is failing! We pay double our house payment for healthcare. They do a certain percentage of what u make a year. I have to take money out of my 401k for healthcare that counts as income. It shouldn't count as income when you are taxing the heck out of us. We can't travel,most our prescriptions we use to take won't be covered and could go on and on about this robbery of people s hard earned money!

I strongly support House Bill 2035, which aims to increase transparency in energy and water use by high-energy facilities in Virginia. This legislation addresses a critical knowledge gap. Currently, Virginia lacks a centralized understanding of energy and water consumption by these facilities. This lack of basic information hinders our ability to effectively plan for the future of our energy grid, water resources, and other essential utilities. Importantly, this bill does not impose any new regulations on these facilities. It simply requires them to report existing data on energy consumption, water usage, and emissions. By establishing a centralized clearinghouse for this data, we can: Enhance Transparency: Publicly available data will empower citizens, businesses, and policymakers to make informed decisions about energy consumption and environmental impact. Support Planning: This comprehensive data will provide valuable insights for policymakers as they develop strategies to address climate change, ensure sustainable water resources, and promote a more resilient energy grid. I urge the committee to support House Bill 2035 and take a significant step towards a more sustainable and informed future for Virginia.

I strongly support House Bill 2035, which aims to increase transparency and accountability in energy and water use by high-energy facilities in Virginia. This legislation addresses a critical knowledge gap. Currently, Virginia lacks a centralized understanding of energy and water consumption by these facilities. This lack of basic information hinders our ability to effectively plan for the future of our energy grid, water resources, and other essential utilities. Importantly, this bill does not impose any new regulations on these facilities. It simply requires them to report existing data on energy consumption, water usage, and emissions. By establishing a centralized clearinghouse for this data, we can: Enhance Transparency: Publicly available data will empower citizens, businesses, and policymakers to make informed decisions about energy consumption and environmental impact. Support Planning: This comprehensive data will provide valuable insights for policymakers as they develop strategies to address climate change, ensure sustainable water resources, and promote a more resilient energy grid. I urge the committee to support House Bill 2035 and take a significant step towards a more sustainable and informed future for Virginia.

I strongly support HB2035, transparency is a bare minimum standard and it is only with data about power and water usage, onsite generation, efficiency, and other matters that we can accurately understand this rapidly growing industry, plan, and provide good governance.

I implore you to pass HB2035 and provide the public constituents, who elected you to represent their interests, with the transparent and factual information about proposed data centers. This transparency provides vitally important information for oversight, responsible growth and planning on the local and state levels. It is simply good governance to provide transparency to the citizens of Virginia.

We need need need this transparency and data. This is a critical bill that does not requires any state action other than providing citizens with the true, factual scope of data center impacts. Its impacts on resources that citizens need and its impacts on the true costs of what citizens will spend on data centers. Good government must be transparent.

Nature Forward supports HB2035 - we urge you to support this legislation. Data centers are a pivot issue of our time and we are at an inflection point with their demand on our resources. This bill is the keystone to ensuring data reporting that would allow localities across Virginia with basic information regarding energy usage, water use, efficiency levels, and sustainability practices. The EU is *already doing* reporting and this legislation requires less than the EUs regulations - still this is a step in the right direction and critical to Virginia being able to manage the intense resource pressure from data centers and other high energy using facilities. We know that data-driven decisions are the best decisions. Reporting like this would help locales such as Loudoun, with a *hundreds* of data centers already online, understand their current energy and water usage and also which sustainability practices and efficiency levels are currently in place. Please support HB2035.

I urge you to adopt this common sense bill that does not in any way restrict the data center industry's use of electricity or water but simply seeks to add transparency so that concerned members of the public, planners, and public officials can more fully appreciate the impacts of this industry. Last year, DEQ began publishing the air quality permits for diesel emergency generators, the information reported due to this bill would be of similar value. I would think that the data center industry would embrace increased transparency since it is an opportunity for them to show that they are mitigating impacts and not causing additional problems with Virginia state and local utilities.

A publicly accessible clearinghouse will enhance transparency, oversight and planning. This will allow the Commonwealth and regions to make decisions that will benefit the most Virginians. This is not only legislation that will create a more sustainable Commonwealth, it is also a matter of good, transparent, governance.

I am a constituent from Northern Virginia (Springfield). Transparency is the bare minimum we should be getting from high-energy facilities, including data centers. This bill would require that basic information about water and energy usage, as well as emissions produed on site, be tracked by the state; this would allow for better planning by localities and the state, and would promote accountability on CO2 emissions, energy [in]efficiency, and water consumption. Please support HB2035 and vote yes on this important bill.

Hello. I urge you to pass Del. Simonds bill HB2035. Without this basic information, localities cannot make informed decisions. I live in Loudoun County. There's hardly a data center application that is not approved. Approvals were granted without the information this bill would require. As a result of ill informed decisions in Loudoun County, there have been: delays in providing electricity to data center customers; a proposal to ignore air quality limits to allow data centers to operate 24/7 on human health polluting and climate change exacerbating diesel back up generators; electrical grid instability with threat of blackouts; bad harmonics, degraded quality of electricity transmitted, that can cause residential fires and damage electrical appliances. Please pass this basic, common sense bill that will make data center approvals more transparent and more responsible to Virginians. Thank you.

This legislation is a necessary step toward promoting transparency, accountability, and better planning in Virginia. Currently, Virginia lacks centralized tracking of energy and water use by high-energy facilities, leaving localities and the state without the comprehensive data needed to make informed decisions. HB 2035 addresses this gap by requiring owners and operators of high-energy facilities to report basic information about their energy and water usage, as well as emissions produced on-site. This information will not only enable better planning but also empower local governments and residents by providing access to a publicly accessible clearinghouse for this critical data. By centralizing these reports and ensuring their accessibility, we enhance oversight and foster responsible growth that aligns with our shared environmental and community priorities. I urge you to support HB 2035 to help Virginia move toward a more sustainable and transparent future. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Who can argue with transparency, other than those who wish to hide something? HB2035 seeks to provide localities with essential knowledge necessary to make an informed decision. I can tell you first-hand about a number of UNinformed decisions made in Prince William County that will haunt us for years. Knowledge is good. Opacity is bad. Support HB2035.

As a resident of Orange County, I write urging support of HB 2035. Orange County draws residents and tourists because of our historic battlefields, unspoiled natural beauty, and rural character. Our previous County Supervisors disregarded these assets in approving a zoning policy that would allow data center construction without regard to water availability (we have suffered several droughts and a recent water crisis), availability of electricity, and impact to viewscape and tourism. Thankfully, those decisions are the subject of a lawsuit. Coming out of the suit, it would be wonderful if developers were required to be transparent about the impact of such construction. As many of my neighbors have said, growth is fine - unchecked, or uninformed growth is not.

Waterkeepers Chesapeake, a regional coalition of Waterkeeper programs in the Chesapeake region, strongly supports HB2035. Virginia lacks centralized tracking of energy and water use by high-energy facilities. A publicly accessible clearinghouse will enhance transparency, oversight and better planning by localities and the state.

To the Committee: I strongly support HB2025 and urge you to allow it to move forward. It is common sense legislation that will increase transparency on the resources we are committing to data centers in Virginia - both water and power. Good planning is good for the citizens of Virginia and our economy. Thank you for taking this into consideration. Liese

We need clear reporting on energy and water use by large facilities in order to make reasonable and effective regulations for data center development.

Dear Chair Sullivan and Members of the Subcommittee, On behalf of the Southern Environmental Law Center, I would like to voice our support for House Bill 2035 and thank the patron, Delegate Simonds, for introducing the bill. The bill would provide the Commowealth and its residents with important information with which to gauge the water and energy usage, and the resulting impacts, of high-energy facilities including data centers. This type of transparency into the impacts of these facilities is critical to informed decision-making and responsible growth of the data center industry. The provision allowing the Department of Environmental Quality to aggregate the information it receives should help address concerns regarding the sharing sensitive business information. We urge you to vote for the bill, and we thank you for your consideration. Morgan Butler Senior Attorney Southern Environmental Law Center

I'm in an area that has been struggling with proposed transmission lines. Transparency and accountability is an important step towards making sure data centers don't come at a devastating price for many Virginians. Please support this bill.

Please provide full support for HB2035. Virginia lacks centralized tracking of energy and water use by high-energy facilities. A publicly accessible clearinghouse will enhance transparency, oversight and planning.

Please support the badly needed transparency outlined in HB2035. This bill would simply provide localities like Loudoun with basic information regarding energy usage, water use, efficiency levels, and sustainability practices. This level of reporting is becoming more mainstream with the EU requiring very similar information for data centers operating there. Reporting about existing data centers would help County's like Loudoun, with a hundreds of operating data centers, get a better idea of trends in energy and water usage as well as sustainability practices and efficiency levels that are currently in place. As data centers redevelopment to meet increasing computational demand, their energy and water demands may shift which is information that Loudoun would benefit from knowing. Finally, the increased reporting in places like the EU has arguably led to the creation of more secondary consulting and monitoring companies and jobs that specialize in helping the data center industry meet these reporting requirements and enhance their sustainability practices and efficiency levels. This standard WOULD NOT go as far as the EU's regulations which actually mandate plans and changes that increase sustainability and efficiency overtime, it would only require reporting, a basic and reasonable first step in getting a better understanding of energy and water consumption of these facilities and how to plan for infrastructure that meets their needs into the future.

Please let me know about anything to do with ANY SOLAR or wind. Also why aren't you working on lowering this socialism health obamare that is failing! We pay double our house payment for healthcare. They do a certain percentage of what u make a year. I have to take money out of my 401k for healthcare that counts as income. It shouldn't count as income when you are taxing the heck out of us. We can't travel,most our prescriptions we use to take won't be covered and could go on and on about this robbery of people s hard earned money!

Dear Memgers of the House Lavor and Commerce Committee. I support HB 2o97. Early PSA screening enabled me to have my GLEASON 10 to be discovered early and prevent early spread of the disease. It is imperative that PSA testing be availabie to high risk men. Michael Brannon, CAPTAIN, USN (Retired)

Comments Document

The American Lung Association strongly supports this bill, given its importance for preventing delays to air pollution regulations. Zero-emission vehicles are a critical tool for reducing harmful air pollution. The “Driving to Clean Air” report by the Lung Association found that the transition to zero-emission vehicles powered by clean energy would provide the Virginia with $25.4 billion in health benefits, prevent more than 2,320 premature deaths and 60,600 asthma attacks, and avoid 299,000 lost workdays. HB 2087 would prevent delays to air pollution solutions by requiring that utilities plan to accommodate the electricity needs for future transportation electrification growth. Ensuring that electrical capacity is delivered to all customers in a timely manner when it is needed will not only provide benefits to all ratepayers, but also secure significant public health savings and avoid many lost workdays. I respectfully ask for your support on this legislation to secure important air pollution reductions to improve lung health in Virginia.

Comments Document

Drive Electric RVA supports the portions of HB 2087 that requires Virginia’s largest utilities to provide more information on how they intend to have sufficient grid capacity for future transportation electrification. The private sector has invested in charging infrastructure throughout the state, but the perceived lack of certainty over grid capacity is holding them back. It has also alarmed potential EV owners who may not go electric because they don’t want to crash the grid. Utilities are the only ones who can assuage these fears by filling the vacuum of information.

Please let me know about anything to do with ANY SOLAR or wind. Also why aren't you working on lowering this socialism health obamare that is failing! We pay double our house payment for healthcare. They do a certain percentage of what u make a year. I have to take money out of my 401k for healthcare that counts as income. It shouldn't count as income when you are taxing the heck out of us. We can't travel,most our prescriptions we use to take won't be covered and could go on and on about this robbery of people s hard earned money!

I ask you to Vote NO Nuclear is not clean and is not renewable. The bill violates the intent of the Renewable Energy Portfolio the Standards of Virginia Clean Economy Act. You know that SWVA does not want nuclear wastes stored on site and there is no place to store the wastes. WHOLE Counties do not want it. There is no transparency in what is being set before us. Some of the wastes have to be safely stored for as long as mankind has walked on Earth --250,000 years. Places that oppose this need to be respected. It has been loud and clear in SWVA where Terry Kilgore resides that we do not want the high cost of the electricity from nuclear and the cost of building them riding on captive rate payers backs. Our electric bills in the heart of winter in these mountains run easily from $600 to $1100. We could use more weatherization monies. We are in an era now of fast track and deregulation and little or no enforcement of regulations make it no sense to go forward on this track. The near meltdown of Three Mile Island and potential harm to millions is why all the caution existed. Please oppose this bill. Gerry Scardo Dickenson County

I am writing to oppose movement forward on this bill as nuclear fuel should not be considered a renewable fuel.

Comments Document

Oppose HB2197: This bill would eviscerate the VCEA RPS program, making Dominion Energy's existing nuclear plants flood the REC market, destroying incentives for renewable energy for years to come. Existing nuclear plants are already included as an offset from total RPS requirement. Ultimately this bill would subsidize new nuclear power - ratepayers are already subject to paying for SMRs before they come online, if they ever do (thanks to the 2024 session). HB2197 would cause UNCERTAINTY and HIGHER electric rates. SMRs CANNOT RELIABLY BE DESIGNED, APPROVED, BUILT and BROUGHT ONLINE on a predictable schedule. Lazard's "Levelized Cost of Energy" proves new nuclear is the MOST EXPENSIVE form of new utility-scale power generation (see pg. 5, file:///C:/Users/rrshe/OneDrive/Desktop/lazards-lcoeplus-april-2023.pdf). SMR projects may be cancelled for numerous reasons. SMRs are DIRTY, creating highly radioactive waste that must be stored on site, since there is no safe universal storage. High-level radioactive waste lasts many thousands of years and makes SMR sites TERRORIST targets. Technology is changing fast. By the time these nuclear facilities would supposedly come on line, ADDITIONAL POWER MAY NOT BE NEEDED. The data industry, which drives the demand for that additional power, may have introduced vastly more efficient technology (see attachment) or contracted to their own power generation sources or simply moved to another state or nation offering greater incentives. From a planning perspective, it makes far more sense to incrementally add renewable generation, paired with geological storage, for 24/7/365 reliable capacity. Most simply, our power bills are already too high. Nuclear is not renewable energy! We DON'T need more risky, dirty, expensive, unpredictable nuclear power. We DO need the VCEA to continue to support truly renewable energy sources and guide us on a more predictable future path. Please vote to kill HB2197.

SWVA Nuclear Watch is a large, grassroots movement calling out the lack of transparency and public involvement in the efforts to put nuclear reactors on our unstable abandoned mine lands. We oppose HB 2197 because it can further incentivize Appalachian Power to add nuclear as an energy source, which is the most expensive, and will increase the costs of our electric bills. The coalfields of Southwest Virginia are the most economically depressed in the Commonwealth, with the highest electric bills. When you hear about the average electric bill costs, please know that electric bills here run into the hundreds of dollars. While outrageous for any residence, our low-income families are suffering economically and physically as they try to keep warm through this bitter winter we are all experiencing. The SWVA legislators sponsoring HB2197 and SB1091 are not representing their constituents.

Oppose HB2200. This bill simply eviscerates the RPS program of the VCEA and would leave Virginia with no path forward to reduce carbon emissions in the electric energy sector. Del. Kilgore appears not to have learned from damage and loss of life wrought by Hurricane Helene, super-powered by climate change in a warmer world. Helene reached up into the Appalachians, like no other hurricane. Helene flooding wreaked havoc on Damascus in Washington Co., VA - next door to Del. Kilgore's home in Scott Co. This bill is a slap in the face to prevention or mitigation of flooding and other damage and loss of life from futue climate-accelerated storms. We have responsibility to the future, please kill HB2200 for the sake of our descendants.

I support HB2346. This bill provides an opportunity to gain electrical capacity without having to build it. Customers can actually benefit financially for helping supply this capacity.

Comments Document

Oppose HB2185 and HB2365: These bill would repeal the Virginia Clean Economy Act and replace it with a "Build nuclear power (SMRs) in the public interest" requirement. This is a road we do not want to travel. Ratepayers are already subject to paying for SMRs before they come online, if they ever do (thanks to the 2024 session). HB2185 and HB2365 would cause UNCERTAINTY and HIGHER electric rates. SMRs CANNOT RELIABLY BE DESIGNED, APPROVED, BUILT and BROUGHT ONLINE on a predictable schedule. Lazard's "Levelized Cost of Energy" proves new nuclear is the MOST EXPENSIVE form of new utility-scale power generation (see pg. 5, file:///C:/Users/rrshe/OneDrive/Desktop/lazards-lcoeplus-april-2023.pdf). SMR projects may be cancelled for numerous reasons. SMRs are DIRTY, creating highly radioactive waste that must be stored on site, since there is no safe universal storage. High-level radioactive waste lasts many thousands of years and makes SMR sites TERRORIST targets. Technology is changing fast. By the time these nuclear facilities would supposedly come on line, ADDITIONAL POWER MAY NOT BE NEEDED. The data industry, which drives the demand for that additional power, may have introduced vastly more efficient technology (see attachment) or contracted to their own power generation sources or simply moved to another state or nation offering greater incentives. From a planning perspective, it makes far more sense to incrementally add renewable generation, paired with geological storage, for 24/7/365 reliable capacity. Most simply, our power bills are already too high. Nuclear is not renewable energy! We DON'T need more risky, dirty, expensive, unpredictable nuclear power. We DO need the VCEA to continue to support truly renewable energy sources and guide us on a more predictable future path. Please vote to kill boath HB2185 and HB2365.

SWVA Nuclear Watch strongly opposes HB 2365. We are a large, grassroots movement in Southwest Virginia, and have researched nuclear energy, particularly SMRs, since October, 2022 when the Govenor said he wanted the first one here in the coalfield region. Nuclear is the most expensive source of energy. IT IS NOT RENEWABLE. We ask this committee to oppose HB 2365.

Comments Document

Oppose HB2365: This bill would subsidize new nuclear power and nuclear-fuel hydrogen electolysis by crediting it as a renewable energy for the RPS. This is a road we do not want to travel. Ratepayers are already subject to paying for SMRs before they come online, if they ever do (thanks to the 2024 session). HB2197 would cause UNCERTAINTY and HIGHER electric rates. SMRs CANNOT RELIABLY BE DESIGNED, APPROVED, BUILT and BROUGHT ONLINE on a predictable schedule. Lazard's "Levelized Cost of Energy" proves new nuclear is the MOST EXPENSIVE form of new utility-scale power generation (see pg. 5, file:///C:/Users/rrshe/OneDrive/Desktop/lazards-lcoeplus-april-2023.pdf). SMR projects may be cancelled for numerous reasons. SMRs are DIRTY, creating highly radioactive waste that must be stored on site, since there is no safe universal storage. High-level radioactive waste lasts many thousands of years and makes SMR sites TERRORIST targets. Technology is changing fast. By the time these nuclear facilities would supposedly come on line, ADDITIONAL POWER MAY NOT BE NEEDED. The data industry, which drives the demand for that additional power, may have introduced vastly more efficient technology (see attachment) or contracted to their own power generation sources or simply moved to another state or nation offering greater incentives. From a planning perspective, it makes far more sense to incrementally add renewable generation, paired with geological storage, for 24/7/365 reliable capacity. Most simply, our power bills are already too high. Nuclear is not renewable energy! We DON'T need more risky, dirty, expensive, unpredictable nuclear power. We DO need the VCEA to continue to support truly renewable energy sources and guide us on a more predictable future path. Please vote to kill HB2365.

I want to speak in favor of 2 of Geary Higgins' bills.

Chairman Sullivan and members of the committee, My name is Robert Melvin and I am the Northeast region director for the R Street Institute. R Street is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, public-policy research organization with a mission to engage in policy research and outreach to promote free markets and limited, effective government including in relation to electric utility regulations. This is why we have an interest in HB 2436, HB 2528, and HB 2547. Currently states have adopted a variety of models for how to structure their electricity markets. Around a third of states allow for retail and wholesale competition in electricity; another third of states have maintained the vertically integrated monopoly utility system and do not participate in an organized wholesale electric market; the final third have adopted a hybrid approach, maintaining vertical integration but allowing competition in some areas. Virginia is firmly in the hybrid camp. Virginia participates in the PJM Interconnection, an organized competitive wholesale market, and while the vast majority of customers are served by monopoly generation and retail services, Virginia law does provide for several avenues for certain customers to access competition. The legislation before this committee today would not fundamentally change Virginia’s hybrid electric system. It would, however, make it easier for businesses to access competition in ways that are already provided for under Virginia law. For example, current Virginia law allows large commercial and industrial customers (over five megawatts) to access competition. Businesses that choose to do so, however, are required to give five-year advance notice to utilities if they enroll with a competitive supplier and later seek to return to utility supply. This needlessly discourages businesses from entering competition, because if it doesn’t work out, they will be trapped outside the utility for half a decade. The five-year requirement is not necessary. Nearby states such as Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and the District of Columbia require only 15 days’ notice. Similar issues exist for residential and commercial customers who would like access to renewable electricity. Current law provides a mechanism for customers to access competition to procure 100 percent renewable derived electricity. However, mass market customers, including residential, are only allowed to access competition if their utility does not have a renewable offering already. To foreclose this possibility, Virginia utilities have created their own 100 percent renewable products. While these plans offer inferior terms to what a customer could get on the open market, their existence is sufficient under current law to prevent customers from seeking a better option. The legislation before you today would help resolve these problems by reducing the advanced notice from five years to six months, allowing for easier aggregation of demand to meet the minimum use requirement for larger commercial and industrial customers, and by allowing all customers to access competition for renewable electricity. These changes will provide benefits to consumers and help Virginia’s electric markets to function in a more innovative and efficient manner. For these reasons, we urge you to give favorable consideration to HB 2436, HB 2528, and HB 2547. Thank you, Robert Melvin

I want to speak in favor of 2 of Geary Higgins' bills.

Comments Document

On behalf of the R Street Institute, I want to urge your support of HB2528. I have attached long form testimony on the proposal for your review.

Chairman Sullivan and members of the committee, My name is Robert Melvin and I am the Northeast region director for the R Street Institute. R Street is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, public-policy research organization with a mission to engage in policy research and outreach to promote free markets and limited, effective government including in relation to electric utility regulations. This is why we have an interest in HB 2436, HB 2528, and HB 2547. Currently states have adopted a variety of models for how to structure their electricity markets. Around a third of states allow for retail and wholesale competition in electricity; another third of states have maintained the vertically integrated monopoly utility system and do not participate in an organized wholesale electric market; the final third have adopted a hybrid approach, maintaining vertical integration but allowing competition in some areas. Virginia is firmly in the hybrid camp. Virginia participates in the PJM Interconnection, an organized competitive wholesale market, and while the vast majority of customers are served by monopoly generation and retail services, Virginia law does provide for several avenues for certain customers to access competition. The legislation before this committee today would not fundamentally change Virginia’s hybrid electric system. It would, however, make it easier for businesses to access competition in ways that are already provided for under Virginia law. For example, current Virginia law allows large commercial and industrial customers (over five megawatts) to access competition. Businesses that choose to do so, however, are required to give five-year advance notice to utilities if they enroll with a competitive supplier and later seek to return to utility supply. This needlessly discourages businesses from entering competition, because if it doesn’t work out, they will be trapped outside the utility for half a decade. The five-year requirement is not necessary. Nearby states such as Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and the District of Columbia require only 15 days’ notice. Similar issues exist for residential and commercial customers who would like access to renewable electricity. Current law provides a mechanism for customers to access competition to procure 100 percent renewable derived electricity. However, mass market customers, including residential, are only allowed to access competition if their utility does not have a renewable offering already. To foreclose this possibility, Virginia utilities have created their own 100 percent renewable products. While these plans offer inferior terms to what a customer could get on the open market, their existence is sufficient under current law to prevent customers from seeking a better option. The legislation before you today would help resolve these problems by reducing the advanced notice from five years to six months, allowing for easier aggregation of demand to meet the minimum use requirement for larger commercial and industrial customers, and by allowing all customers to access competition for renewable electricity. These changes will provide benefits to consumers and help Virginia’s electric markets to function in a more innovative and efficient manner. For these reasons, we urge you to give favorable consideration to HB 2436, HB 2528, and HB 2547. Thank you, Robert Melvin

Chairman Sullivan and members of the committee, My name is Robert Melvin and I am the Northeast region director for the R Street Institute. R Street is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, public-policy research organization with a mission to engage in policy research and outreach to promote free markets and limited, effective government including in relation to electric utility regulations. This is why we have an interest in HB 2436, HB 2528, and HB 2547. Currently states have adopted a variety of models for how to structure their electricity markets. Around a third of states allow for retail and wholesale competition in electricity; another third of states have maintained the vertically integrated monopoly utility system and do not participate in an organized wholesale electric market; the final third have adopted a hybrid approach, maintaining vertical integration but allowing competition in some areas. Virginia is firmly in the hybrid camp. Virginia participates in the PJM Interconnection, an organized competitive wholesale market, and while the vast majority of customers are served by monopoly generation and retail services, Virginia law does provide for several avenues for certain customers to access competition. The legislation before this committee today would not fundamentally change Virginia’s hybrid electric system. It would, however, make it easier for businesses to access competition in ways that are already provided for under Virginia law. For example, current Virginia law allows large commercial and industrial customers (over five megawatts) to access competition. Businesses that choose to do so, however, are required to give five-year advance notice to utilities if they enroll with a competitive supplier and later seek to return to utility supply. This needlessly discourages businesses from entering competition, because if it doesn’t work out, they will be trapped outside the utility for half a decade. The five-year requirement is not necessary. Nearby states such as Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and the District of Columbia require only 15 days’ notice. Similar issues exist for residential and commercial customers who would like access to renewable electricity. Current law provides a mechanism for customers to access competition to procure 100 percent renewable derived electricity. However, mass market customers, including residential, are only allowed to access competition if their utility does not have a renewable offering already. To foreclose this possibility, Virginia utilities have created their own 100 percent renewable products. While these plans offer inferior terms to what a customer could get on the open market, their existence is sufficient under current law to prevent customers from seeking a better option. The legislation before you today would help resolve these problems by reducing the advanced notice from five years to six months, allowing for easier aggregation of demand to meet the minimum use requirement for larger commercial and industrial customers, and by allowing all customers to access competition for renewable electricity. These changes will provide benefits to consumers and help Virginia’s electric markets to function in a more innovative and efficient manner. For these reasons, we urge you to give favorable consideration to HB 2436, HB 2528, and HB 2547. Thank you, Robert Melvin

Chairman Sullivan and members of the committee, My name is Robert Melvin and I am the Northeast region director for the R Street Institute. R Street is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, public-policy research organization with a mission to engage in policy research and outreach to promote free markets and limited, effective government including in relation to electric utility regulations. This is why we have an interest in HB 2436, HB 2528, and HB 2547. Currently states have adopted a variety of models for how to structure their electricity markets. Around a third of states allow for retail and wholesale competition in electricity; another third of states have maintained the vertically integrated monopoly utility system and do not participate in an organized wholesale electric market; the final third have adopted a hybrid approach, maintaining vertical integration but allowing competition in some areas. Virginia is firmly in the hybrid camp. Virginia participates in the PJM Interconnection, an organized competitive wholesale market, and while the vast majority of customers are served by monopoly generation and retail services, Virginia law does provide for several avenues for certain customers to access competition. The legislation before this committee today would not fundamentally change Virginia’s hybrid electric system. It would, however, make it easier for businesses to access competition in ways that are already provided for under Virginia law. For example, current Virginia law allows large commercial and industrial customers (over five megawatts) to access competition. Businesses that choose to do so, however, are required to give five-year advance notice to utilities if they enroll with a competitive supplier and later seek to return to utility supply. This needlessly discourages businesses from entering competition, because if it doesn’t work out, they will be trapped outside the utility for half a decade. The five-year requirement is not necessary. Nearby states such as Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and the District of Columbia require only 15 days’ notice. Similar issues exist for residential and commercial customers who would like access to renewable electricity. Current law provides a mechanism for customers to access competition to procure 100 percent renewable derived electricity. However, mass market customers, including residential, are only allowed to access competition if their utility does not have a renewable offering already. To foreclose this possibility, Virginia utilities have created their own 100 percent renewable products. While these plans offer inferior terms to what a customer could get on the open market, their existence is sufficient under current law to prevent customers from seeking a better option. The legislation before you today would help resolve these problems by reducing the advanced notice from five years to six months, allowing for easier aggregation of demand to meet the minimum use requirement for larger commercial and industrial customers, and by allowing all customers to access competition for renewable electricity. These changes will provide benefits to consumers and help Virginia’s electric markets to function in a more innovative and efficient manner. For these reasons, we urge you to give favorable consideration to HB 2436, HB 2528, and HB 2547. Thank you, Robert Melvin

I support HB2547.

Though I'm not clear how this bill could actually be implemented, I certainly support the intention for APCo customers to have options to the costly power provided to APCo's captive customers. I hope this will give us ratepayers some options.

Chairman Sullivan and members of the committee, My name is Robert Melvin and I am the Northeast region director for the R Street Institute. R Street is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, public-policy research organization with a mission to engage in policy research and outreach to promote free markets and limited, effective government including in relation to electric utility regulations. This is why we have an interest in HB 2436, HB 2528, and HB 2547. Currently states have adopted a variety of models for how to structure their electricity markets. Around a third of states allow for retail and wholesale competition in electricity; another third of states have maintained the vertically integrated monopoly utility system and do not participate in an organized wholesale electric market; the final third have adopted a hybrid approach, maintaining vertical integration but allowing competition in some areas. Virginia is firmly in the hybrid camp. Virginia participates in the PJM Interconnection, an organized competitive wholesale market, and while the vast majority of customers are served by monopoly generation and retail services, Virginia law does provide for several avenues for certain customers to access competition. The legislation before this committee today would not fundamentally change Virginia’s hybrid electric system. It would, however, make it easier for businesses to access competition in ways that are already provided for under Virginia law. For example, current Virginia law allows large commercial and industrial customers (over five megawatts) to access competition. Businesses that choose to do so, however, are required to give five-year advance notice to utilities if they enroll with a competitive supplier and later seek to return to utility supply. This needlessly discourages businesses from entering competition, because if it doesn’t work out, they will be trapped outside the utility for half a decade. The five-year requirement is not necessary. Nearby states such as Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and the District of Columbia require only 15 days’ notice. Similar issues exist for residential and commercial customers who would like access to renewable electricity. Current law provides a mechanism for customers to access competition to procure 100 percent renewable derived electricity. However, mass market customers, including residential, are only allowed to access competition if their utility does not have a renewable offering already. To foreclose this possibility, Virginia utilities have created their own 100 percent renewable products. While these plans offer inferior terms to what a customer could get on the open market, their existence is sufficient under current law to prevent customers from seeking a better option. The legislation before you today would help resolve these problems by reducing the advanced notice from five years to six months, allowing for easier aggregation of demand to meet the minimum use requirement for larger commercial and industrial customers, and by allowing all customers to access competition for renewable electricity. These changes will provide benefits to consumers and help Virginia’s electric markets to function in a more innovative and efficient manner. For these reasons, we urge you to give favorable consideration to HB 2436, HB 2528, and HB 2547. Thank you, Robert Melvin

Costco Wholesale Corporationstrongly supports HB 2547 because it allows needed flexibility for Costco to continue to participate fully in the aggregation pilot being offered under Va. Code § 56-577.1. Currently Costco’s participation is set based on the accounts included in its 2018 pilot petition. Costco’s accounts have been adjusted in the 6 years since the 2018 petition was filed, and HB 2547 would allow Costco’s participation to reflect such adjustments rather than being frozen at the list of account in 2018, as long as Costco’s participation otherwise meets the requirements of the aggregation pilot being offered under Va. Code § 56-577.1. In essence, HB 2547 provides a common sense approach to how Costco and other eligible companies participate in the aggregation pilot. Thank you Shay Reed, Assistant General Merchandise Manager/Buyer for Energy, Utilities, and Environmental Reporting Certified Energy Manager Costco Wholesale Corporation

My name is Kevin Doyle, and I am the Vice President of State Affairs for Consumer Energy Alliance (CEA). Consumer Energy Alliance (CEA) is a leading voice for sensible energy and environmental policies for consumers, bringing together families, farmers, small businesses, distributors, producers and manufacturers to support America’s environmentally sustainable energy future. With members nationwide including many here in Virginia, we are committed to leading the nation’s dialogue around energy, the environment, energy’s critical role in the economy, and how it supports the vital supply chains for families and businesses that depend on them. CEA applauds Delegate O'Quinn for sponsoring this important legislation that will protect Virginia’s families and small businesses from actions that could prohibit the use and availability of reliable, safe and clean fuels like natural gas in our homes or communities. Bans on energy choices and options would be devastating to families, business and industries that rely on natural gas for electricity, manufacturing and heating. Energy service bans could lead to serious and significant service interruptions. They could also require the replacement of major appliances and significant unplanned remodeling expenses, which could cost Virginia’s families and businesses billions of dollars – a burden that would be ruinous for those living at or below the poverty level. CEA just released a report ( https://consumerenergyalliance.org/2025/01/natural-gas-service-ban-could-cost-virginians-over-31000-per-household/ ) detailing the real world impacts a natural gas ban would have on consumers and households on a fixed budget. It found that a natural gas ban could cost a household in the Richmond area over $31,000 from “forced electrification” with heat pump installations, wiring upgrades, appliance replacement and permitting or duct work depending on how dependent a home was on the fuel. CEA thanks all members of the General Assembly who support efforts to ensure affordable and reliable energy access for all Virginians. We urge you to support this common-sense legislation that protects consumers, families, and businesses across the Commonwealth. CEA works daily to encourage communities across the nation to seek sensible, realistic, and environmentally responsible solutions to meet our nation’s energy needs. By advocating for energy justice and sensible energy solutions, we hope to ensure that people who need affordable energy the most can have access to it. CEA works to help provide an understanding of what policies mean and what they could do to energy prices, availability and environmental impacts. As an organization that advocates for all types of energy resources across the country, CEA continues to stand by its commitment to ensuring families – especially low-income individuals, those on fixed incomes or living paycheck-to-paycheck – and businesses trying to meet budgets and payrolls can access the energy they need. Thank you for your consideration and hopefully your support of HB 2699.