Virginia Regulators Reject Utility Request to Slash Compensation for Solar Customers Sending Energy to Grid

RICHMOND, VA — Yesterday Virginia’s State Corporation Commission (SCC) protected fair compensation rates for rooftop solar customers that send excess energy to the grid. The SCC denied Dominion Energy’s request to slash net energy metering (NEM) compensation rates for rooftop solar customers. The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) intervened in this case.

Following is a statement from Kevin Lucas, SEIA’s vice president of policy analysis: 

“Smart net metering policy is good for solar customers, grid reliability, electricity prices, and the clean energy economy. The State Corporation Commission was right to reject Dominion’s request that would have made it much harder for Virginians to lower their electricity bills and contribute to grid reliability by investing in rooftop solar. We’ve always known that the benefits of net metering extend far beyond any one home that has rooftop solar, and it is great to see regulators affirm the widespread benefits of rooftop solar in their ruling.”

Key provisions of the ruling include:

• Rejecting Dominion’s request to drastically cut net metering compensation rates

• Maintaining energy netting in a manner that allows customers to save any excess energy for up to a year to offset future usage

• Denying Dominion’s request to charge NEM applicants with exorbitant application fees

According to the latest Solar Market Insight report from SEIA and Wood Mackenzie, Virginia currently has 7.6 GW of installed solar capacity, the 9th-most installed solar capacity of any state and enough to power over 850,000 Virginians homes. More than 64,000 Virginian homes have installed rooftop solar.