The State Corporation Commission (SCC) has issued orders in five cases involving rate reviews and changes requested by Dominion Virginia Power. All of the rate adjustments will be placed into effect on April 1, 2015. The combined impact will decrease the average monthly bill of a typical residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity by $6.47, from $115.95 to $109.48.
In Case Number PUE-2015-00022, the SCC established a lower fuel rate for Dominion Virginia Power on an interim basis. The new fuel rate is 2.406 cents per kilowatt-hour (¢/kWh), which represents a decrease of 0.612 ¢/kWh from the current fuel factor of 3.018 ¢/kWh. For the average residential customer, the fuel rate decrease means the monthly bill for 1,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity will decrease $6.12.
The fuel rate is the portion of the electric bill that pays for the cost of fuel used to generate electricity and reflects the wholesale purchase and sales of power. Dominion Virginia Power is statutorily entitled to recover its prudently incurred fuel costs. This is a dollar-for-dollar recovery, and the company can make no profit on the recovery of fuel expenses.
The fuel rate is reviewed annually by the SCC and re-set, as necessary, to reflect actual fuel expenses for the previous year and projected fuel expenses for the coming year.
The SCC also approved annual revisions in four rate adjustment clauses, also called riders:
Case Number PUE-2014-00042 – Rider W allows the company to recover costs for the development of the Warren County Power Station, a 1,328-megawatt natural gas-fired, combined-cycle electric generating facility near Front Royal.
Case Number PUE-2014-00050 – Rider B allows the company to recover costs for the conversion of coal-burning generation facilities in Altavista, Hopewell, and Southampton to renewable biomass generation facilities.
Case Number PUE-2014-00051 – Rider S allows the company to recover costs for the Virginia City Hybrid Energy Center, a 600-megawatt primarily coal-fueled generating plant in Wise County.
Case Number PUE-2014-00052 – Rider R allows the company to recover costs for Bear Garden Generating Station, a 580-megawatt natural gas-fired, combined cycle generating facility in Buckingham County.
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