Dominion Energy has proposed a new charge that could raise monthly electric bills for Virginia customers, claiming the extra revenue would help pay for grid upgrades intended to reduce outages, The Free Lance-Star reported.
Here's what to know
If the Virginia State Corporation Commission approves the request, the benchmark residential bill for 1,000 kilowatt-hours would rise by $3.46 a month, or about 2%, moving from $180.79 to roughly $184.25.
Dominion estimates the surcharge would generate $463 million in total, with $196 million allocated to its grid transformation project.
Dominion maintains it has hardened 356 miles of the main feeder lines that carry electricity from substations into Virginia neighborhoods.
The effort also includes stronger poles, additional safety equipment, upgraded substations, and software and monitoring systems intended to improve reliability.
More background
The proposal sets aside another $230 million to bury lines that logged 4,307 outages over a 10-year period.
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The company says part of the reason for the requested increase is a sharp rise in equipment prices since 2021.
Pole costs are up 55.6%, lightning arrester costs are up 221.8%, and transformer costs are up 130.5%, according to Dominion's director of grid resilience, Ellen E. Jackson.
The proposed line-burying work focuses especially on sections of the system with a long history of interruptions.
If those projects are successful, customers could eventually see fewer service disruptions and less downtime during severe weather or equipment failures.
But for families already coping with high housing, grocery, and utility costs, even a relatively modest increase can make it harder to keep up with monthly expenses, especially if it applies across the company's residential customer base.
What's being done?
The plan cannot move forward unless the State Corporation Commission approves it and determines whether the costs are justified and should be recovered through a monthly surcharge.
"Reducing the number of damage locations, especially those in areas with difficult access, leads to a cascading reduction in the time required to restore power for many customers, not just the ones served by converted lines," Jackson asserted.
Whether regulators see the increase as a necessary investment or another burden on ratepayers, the proposal reflects a core challenge for Virginia: how to build a more dependable grid without making essential electricity service less affordable.
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