The following information explores in detail why the bill is bad for consumers. If the House of Delegates votes to approve SB 1269, these are the last electric utility rate reductions Virginia consumers will ever see. Rate cases protect consumers from unfair pricing. The bill discards decades of rate regulation based on the real cost of providing service and a just and reasonable profit level and takes a dangerous gamble on the development of a robustly competitive electric generation market to keep rates in line. There is no legislated rate reduction.
Some electric companies get another chance to file for a rate increase before caps take effect.
During the cap period some utilities are permitted to ask to raise rates for distribution and transmission services regardless of profits made on generation. Customers will be denied any rate reductions that result from improved efficiency or declining costs. We think that will be a long time. The stranded cost recovery solution was a last-minute deal struck between the utilities and large industrial customers, the class of customers most likely to benefit from retail choice. Earlier versions of the SJR 91 bill called for SCC proceedings to determine stranded costs for each utility.