Budget standoff holds up amendment to staff Va. electric utility commission

Jun 10, 2023

The breakdown in budget negotiations at the General Assembly has stymied efforts to add staff to the Commission on Electric Utility Regulation, which identifies the impact of complex utility regulation proposals on ratepayers, among other duties. (Sarah Vogelsong / Virginia Mercury)

The continued failure of Democrats and Republicans to agree to amendments to Virginia’s two-year budget is tying up funding for six staff members for the Commission on Electric Utility Regulation, a body the General Assembly voted to reinvigorate this past session.

Lawmakers see the Commission on Electric Utility Regulation, or CEUR, as a resource to provide more thorough discussion on complex utility regulation proposals and identify any impacts they may have on ratepayers, particularly as utilities begin transitioning away from fossil fuels and toward a more renewables-centric grid.

“Our country is undergoing a massive change in how we use energy in response to climate change,” said Sen. Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax, sponsor of the amendment. “We need a lot more policy support as we move through that.”

House Majority Leader Terry Kilgore, R-Scott, who carried the House version of the bill, said when presenting his bill this session, “We come in here every year and try to set energy policy in a 60- or 45-, 46-day session and try to move all these bills that have a lot in them during that time.”

The push for having the CEUR active again is centered around the help it can provide to legislators. Members of the General Assembly have the Department of Legislative Services to vet bills, but they provide a legal perspective, Surovell explained. The CEUR and its staff can provide more advice on the substance of the policy, Surovell said.

“I do think it’s among one of the more complicated issues in which the legislature has to deal with, (and) with limited personnel staff resources,” said Del. Rip Sullivan, D-Arlington, a member of the commission. Sullivan carried the House version of the 2020 Virginia Clean Economy Act that seeks to decarbonize Virginia’s electric grid by 2050.

Del. Lee Ware, R-Powhatan, who is a member of the House Commerce and Energy Committee, said this past session while in support of the bill that, “we’ve not been able to do the kind of vetting that would be very helpful with a policy matrix of the magnitude that energy and utility is here, often times taking up bills that have been dropped in the early days of session that are enormous.”

The commission hasn’t met since 2017. It consists of 10 legislative members with six members from the House and four members from the Senate

The legislation that was passed in 2023 re-energizes the CEUR in several ways.

In addition to a requirement to meet twice a year, four people were added to the commission: a member of the attorney general’s office and three citizen members. The House speaker, chairman of the Senate Rules Committee, and governor each select one citizen member.

The Senate Rules Committee, chaired by Sen. Mamie Locke, D-Hampton, has appointed Cassidy Rasnick, a federal program officer at the U.S. Department of Commerce in Richmond and former director of Virginia’s Office of Outdoor Recreation. The appointments by House Speaker Todd Gilbert, R-Shenandoah, and Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, have yet to be made.

The new legislation also requires the CEUR to review any bills referred to it by legislative committees and determine the ratepayer impacts for up to five bills flagged by committee chairs. Additionally, its members will review the State Corporation Commission’s annual report on its regulation of Dominion Energy and Appalachian Power, the governor’s energy plan, the utilities’ long-term planning documents known as Integrated Resource Plans, and monitor grants the state can tap into.

One of the last things the commission reviewed were proposals made in the 2015 session that would have allowed Danville to stop operating its own independent electric system. The review came at the request of the Senate Local Government Committee during the session that year. The commission’s 24-page report on the bill included discussion of several constitutional concerns as well as practical implications of how Danville’s customer base would be absorbed by a larger utility.

Besides reviewing existing proposals, the commission could do work similar to what the Virginia State Crime Commission does, Surovell said. That body has conducted studies that have led to future legislative proposals, such as a Driving Under the Influence reporting bill that became law.

“I find that many times if you can do a lot of the heavy lifting and reach consensus on a commission, you can get a bill through during the session,” Surovell said.

The commission currently has three staff members who also work with other commissions. That’s not enough to do all the work that will be required under the legislation, said Surovell.

The budget standoff is holding up the adoption of the amendment to staff up the CEUR. Last year, the General Assembly passed its two-year spending plan. Legislators make adjustments to the two-year plan in interim years through the adoption of amendments. The standoff this year is due to a broader dispute between House GOP and Senate Democrat negotiators on tax cuts that Youngkin has proposed.

“The commission’s ability will be impaired until the staff have been funded,” Surovell said.

The commission was planning to meet Tuesday, but wasn’t able to get a quorum, said Surovell, who said he is organizing the commission’s work alongside Kilgore and Sen. Richard Saslaw, D-Fairfax. The commission hasn’t been able to elect a chairman.

The goal is to have a meeting in September to begin monitoring grants. But with the election of all 140 House and Senate seats up for election this November, Sullivan noted that a meeting in December may be more likely.

“I very much doubt that in the space of the next two months there will be time or inclination to meet,” Sullivan said.

by Charlie Paullin, Virginia Mercury August 10, 2023

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Charles Paullin covers energy and environment for the Mercury. He previously worked for Northern Virginia Daily in the Northern Shenandoah Valley and for the New Britain Herald in central Connecticut. An Alexandria native, Charles graduated from the University of Hartford initially wanting to cover sports. He's received several Virginia Press Association awards for his coverage of crime, local government and state politics.