Virginia Administrative Code › Title 20 - PUBLIC UTILITIES AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS › Agency 5 - STATE CORPORATION COMMISSION › Chapter 202 - REGULATIONS GOVERNING THE FUNCTIONAL SEPARATION OF INCUMBENT ELECTRIC UTILITIES UNDER THE VIRGINIA ELECTRIC UTILITY RESTRUCTURING ACT › Section 20VAC5-202-10 - Applicability and scope

Current through Register Vol. 40, No. 24, July 15, 2024
These regulations are promulgated pursuant to the provisions
				  of the Virginia Electric Utility Regulation Act (§ 56-576 et seq. of the Code
				  of Virginia), and they apply only to incumbent electric utilities subject to
				  the provisions thereof. Section 56-590 of the Act declares that all incumbent
				  electric utilities shall functionally separate their generation, transmission
				  and distribution services by January 1, 2002, and that such functional
				  separation may be accomplished through the creation of affiliates or through
				  such other means as may be acceptable to the commission. The utilities were
				  required to submit proposed functional separation plans to the Virginia State
				  Corporation Commission by January 1, 2001.
Section 56-590B 3 of the Act authorizes the commission to
				  impose conditions, as the public interest requires, upon its approval of
				  incumbent electric utilities' plan for functional separation, including
				  requirements that (i) incumbent electric utilities' generation assets or their
				  equivalent remain available for electric service during the capped rate period
				  as provided in § 56-582 and, if applicable, during any period incumbent
				  electric utilities serve as default providers pursuant to § 56-585, and (ii)
				  incumbent electric utilities receive commission approval for the sale, transfer
				  or other disposition of generation assets during the capped rate period and, if
				  applicable, during any period incumbent electric utilities serve as default
				  providers.
Pursuant to § 56-590C, the commission is also directed, to
				  the extent necessary to promote effective competition in the Commonwealth, to
				  promulgate regulations:
1. Prohibiting
				cost-shifting or cross-subsidies between functionally separate units;
2. Prohibiting functionally separate units
				from engaging in anticompetitive behavior or self-dealing;
3. Prohibiting affiliated entities from
				engaging in discriminatory behavior toward nonaffiliated units; and
4. Establishing codes of conduct detailing
				permissible relations between functionally separate units.
Additionally, § 56-590F provides, in pertinent part, that
				  nothing in the Virginia Electric Utility Regulation Act shall be deemed to
				  abrogate or modify the commission's authority under Chapters 3 (§ 56-55 et
				  seq.), 4 (§ 56-76 et seq.) or 5 (§ 56-88 et seq.) of Title 56 of the Code of
				  Virginia.
This chapter, therefore, implements the statutory provisions
				  of the Virginia Electric Utility Regulation Act described above. Such
				  regulations shall not, however, be deemed to modify or supersede any
				  regulations adopted by the commission concerning the relationships between
				  local distribution companies and any company licensed by the commission to
				  provide competitive energy services, which regulations shall include the
				  commission's Interim Rules Governing Electric and Natural Gas Retail Access
				  Pilot Programs,
				  20VAC5-311-10 et seq., and any
				  successor regulations thereto.
Statutory Authority
§ 12.1-13 of the Code of Virginia.