State says OK to higher electric bills
By Shannon Sollinger
The State Corporation Commission has given Dominion Virginia Power the go-ahead to raise its bills by enough to cover the higher costs the company is paying to buy the fuel that generates electricity.
The new rate goes into effect July 1.
Residential customers who use 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity a month will see their bills go up by $16.61 cents.
The power company is allowed by law to recover the full costs of its fuel purchases from its customers.
The company, the attorney general and interested parties including industrial customers agreed to several stipulations that the SCC release says will protect consumers:
If the company overestimated the cost of fuel it buys over the next year, it will have to pay it back by adjusting the rate next year.
When the company buys fuel from its unregulated affiliates, it must pay no more than an affiliate's actual cost or the market price.
The company must substantiate to the SCC that it is making as many off-system sales as possible when it makes more electricity than it needs for its Virginia customers. Virginia law requires that 75 percent of the profits from these sales be credited back to Virginia rate-payers.