By Michael Brooks and Rich Heidorn Jr. Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe signed a controversial bill last week that suspends the State Corporation Commission’s reviews of Dominion Virginia Power’s base rates for the next seven years, allowing the company to collect potentially hundreds of millions in excess profits. The bill (SB1349) was...

The Virginia General Assembly passed a bill Thursday that would temporarily suspend the State Corporation Commission’s biennial review of Dominion Virginia Power’s base rates. SB 1349, introduced by Republican Sen. Frank Wagner, was written with help from Dominion. It would freeze the utility’s base rates while preventing the SCC from...

By Michael Brooks Wagner A Virginia Senate subcommittee has passed a bill that would freeze Dominion Virginia Power customers’ base rates and bar state regulators from reviewing the utility’s revenue until after 2020. The bill, SB1349, is among the most controversial in a group of bills introduced by Virginia lawmakers...

SWEPCO Asks PSC to Deny Request for Attorney Fees Southwestern Electric Power Co. asked the Public Service Commission to deny a request by Save the Ozarks to pay for legal expenses the organization incurred during its battle against a transmission line. SWEPCO withdrew its power line application last month following a...

Refinery Files for Permit to Build $100 million Hydrogen Plant PBF Energy, owners of the state’s only refinery, is seeking permission to build a $100 million hydrogen plant as part of a plan to begin refining ultra-low sulfur fuel at the Delaware City facility. PBF applied to the Department of Natural...

Legislators May Be Waiting for Quinn to Leave Before Bill is Sent Quinn Commonwealth Edison and Ameren stand to win an important victory in their attempts to get continued authorization to charge customers for smart grid improvements. The state legislature easily passed a bill in December allowing the utilities to...

SWEPCO Drops Bid for $116 Million Tx Line Southwestern Electric Power Co. announced that it is dropping plans to construct a $116 million, 60-mile transmission line after SPP decided it wasn’t needed. SPP told SWEPCO that its latest forecasts show lower load growth than previous ones for the area. “Based...

Bloom Energy Surcharge Falls to $3.3M in January A surcharge paid by Delmarva Power & Light customers to subsidize fuel-cell manufacturer Bloom Energy will come in at $3.3 million in January, down slightly from the previous month. Under rules set by the Public Service Commission, a customer using 1,000 kWh...

State Reviewing Company’s Plan to Use Corn-Based Ethanol at New Plant State environmental officials have agreed to a special review of a company’s plan to make ethylene oxide at a proposed riverfront plant south of Wilmington rather than import the hazardous chemical on rail cars from Gulf Coast refineries. Croda, a...