The Virginian-Pilot
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Dominion Virginia Power has asked state regulators to approve another rate increase next year to cover construction costs for two power plants.
The change would add $1.39 to the bills of residents who use 1,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity each month. If approved by the State Corporation Commission, it would take effect April 1.
The new increase would come on top of existing charges that Dominion already has imposed to finance plant construction and additional charges that state regulators have approved to go into effect Jan. 1. The proposed increase and the other charges would total $5.36, or about 5 percent, of the monthly bill for the 1,000- kwh customer next year.
State law allows the power company to impose a special rate, known as a "rider," on customers to recoup the cost of building new plants. The law, passed in 2007, lets the company start collecting the extra money - which includes a profit, or return on equity in its investment - before plants begin operating as an incentive to meet growing demand.
Dominion customers began paying a rider for the company's new coal plant in Wise County in January 2009, increasing the bill by $1.53 for a customer using 1,000 kwh per month. Starting in January this year, Dominion had permission to boost that rider by $1.27 for that plant and add another $1.17 for a gas-fired plant it is building in Buckingham County.
Earlier this year, Dominion reached a settlement with the commission on its request to raise its base rates, which cover its general operating costs. As part of the settlement, the company agreed to waive the plant-construction
riders for 2010. Those will kick in again, however, on Jan. 1.
The new increase includes 95 cents for the Wise County plant and 44 cents for the Buckingham County project.
In May, Dominion customers began paying a separate rider to help the company pay for programs to encourage conservation. It amounted to about 53 cents for the customer using 1,000 kwh each month and brought that customer's monthly bill to $99.60, not including taxes.
Starting Thursday, Dominion will reduce that bill by $1.24 to reflect the falling cost of fuel to run power plants.
The commission has yet to approve the change in that rate, known as the "fuel factor," but allowed the company to apply it on an interim basis.
Carolyn Shapiro, (757) 446-2270, carolyn.shapiro@pilotonline.com
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You'll love the current electric rates
if the dems and RINOs in Washington pass carbon cap and tax. Candidate 0bama is quoted as saying, "the price of electricity will necessarily skyrocket under my plan," and his plan is carbon cap and tax. If the progressives/socialists/Marxists succeed in passing that legislation, we'll long for the days of 10 cents per kilowatt.
Pilot Online - clarificaiton please
I presume my comment was removed because someone felt it violated your rules. I'd like to see how it was in violation. The rule that I think someone felt was broken is:
• No commercial product promotions or off-topic messages; no spam, chain letters, pyramid schemes or fraudulent or deceptive messages; no false claims of affiliation with any third party.
I stated that there WILL be an alternative to VEPCO before the year was out. I did NOT solicit any business.
Comments?
Not possible
DVP is a regulated monopoly. VA was going the path of deregulation until VA saw the disasters in the mid-atlantic states with prices drastically rising after deregulation. VA then reversed course.
Unless you are powering your home with your own genertator, your own solar panels, your own wind mill, or your own power plant, there is no alternative to DVP.
There will be an alternative to DVP
Unless I (and MANY THOUSANDS of my assoiciates) have been lied to, deregulation is coming here, and across the nation. I saw the posting from the reader with family in MD.
We'll see what happens, but don't count out the fact that deregulation of power will take place here. Look at all the alternatives we have now to "Ma Bell" when it comes to POTS.
Look at wireless. I remember when there was only one and then two cell phone options here in Tidewater; CONTEL and CENTEL. We now have, between the national, regional, and mom & pop providers, literally DOZENS of wireless choices. All a result of deregulation. The competition is working on driving down prices.
Look at TV. In VA Beach it used to be Cox or an antenna. Now we have Verizon FIOS, DirecTV and Dish Network to name a few. And everyone is fighting for your service.
Why not power?
DVP rate increase
Questions: How much does DVP pay for those commercials on TV? Why the commercials in the first place? Who are their competitors and where are their commercials? Couldn't DVP just include the messages within the customer bills? Don't they already do that?
Please, SCC, answer me.
Thanks!
They have a number of products
They have a quite a few competitive products. They're on their web site. They also have to market the company itself as it is publicly traded.
Not so bad
Far be it from me to defend DVP, but I think the State Corporation Commission is doing a pretty good job of riding herd on them. Compared to the rest of the US, our rates are in line, considering our resources. See: http://www.kaec.org/stand/rates.htm for a visual representation. A scary thing for VA is that I've heard we are the second largest net importer of power, right behind CA. This puts us at the mercy of other states. This is the reaon we need to build more capacity. However, I do not agree with the fact that DVP is allowed to earn a profit on their investment BEFORE generating a single kwh from the new plants.
How will the fee be charged?
Are we to be charged the extra fee for only those months we use over 1000KW?
We easily use over 1000KW a month during the summer to cool our 2400sq ft home for a family of 4, and run the pool filter. By adding insulation, keeping the thermostat at 78, using CFLs (which are net $ loss, really), and implementing other minimum electricity usage methods, we've dropped our avg summer usage from 1816kw to 1186kw, and averaged 1070kw monthly over the last year.
I'm just throwing that out there for those who may not chart their utility usage, so they can get an idea of whether this increase in fees may affect them.
With the tax increases coming next year, the impending double-dip recession/depression, continued increased unemployment, and the president's promise of sky-rocketing energy costs, every penny matters; and I'd like to ask Dominion to hold off on the increase until our economy improves.
All kwh
The riders are charged for every kwh you use, not just over 1000. I do agree that their figure of 1000 is not realisitc for most families. If you have kids and a house, you are using more than 1000 kwh average, so your charge will be more than they state.
That might be an average
That might not be too far off as an average with apartments offsetting houses. I probably average around 1000 annually with my house but that's only because I have gas heat.