Virginia Senate OKs Bill to Freeze Base Rates To Help Utilities Meet Clean Power Plan Costs

摘要

The Virginia Senate passed legislation that would temporarily freeze base electricity rates and allow the state's investor-owned electrical utilities to retain unexpected earnings that would normally be rebated to customers to help them recover the costs of reducing carbon dioxide emissions. The bill (S.B. 1349) is designed to help the utilities comply with the Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Power Plan, the proposed regulation under Section 111 (d) of the Clean Air Act. Approved on a 32-6 vote Feb. 6, the Virginia Senate bill would establish "transitional rate periods" for the state's largest utilities, Dominion Virginia Power and Appalachian Power, according to an official state summary of the legislation. Dominion, the bigger of the two companies, would get a five-year "test period," from Jan. 1, 2015, to Dec. 31, 2019. Appalachian would receive a four-year test period, from Jan. 1, 2014, to Dec. 31, 2017.