Letter: Dominion Energy Defends Its Record

The Plutocrat vs. the Monopoly

Dominion Energy provides power to two-thirds of Virginians but has been criticized for charging excessive rates and lobbying the government to free those rates from regulation, George Packer wrote this week. “This arrangement was entirely legal and scarcely noticed for years,” Packer explained. “It’s a glaring version of the corruption that underlies so much of American politics.”

“The Plutocrat vs. the Monopoly” accepts as fact the viewpoints of the plutocrat in question, the plutocrat’s political operative, a blogger, a 2017 gubernatorial primary candidate, and two former legislators now working as lobbyists.  

While a handful of legislators are quoted, there is no mention of the patrons of this year’s landmark energy legislation, the two majority leaders of the Virginia General Assembly. Nor does the story mention their fellow bipartisan lawmakers who authored the final version of the bill, which Dominion Energy vocally supported because of its pro-consumer reforms.  

The article is also surprisingly incurious about the motivations of the plutocrat, Michael Bills, who has spent tens of millions of dollars on Virginia campaign contributions. These motivations are not hard to divine. The plutocrat’s so-called Clean Virginia political-action group has been vocal in its support for electricity deregulation, a policy that has failed consumers everywhere it has been tried.   

Although the article has been in development since March, our company was contacted only 24 hours prior to the original publication date. It appears to have been largely written before this contact was made. While the facts about Virginia’s electricity rates and leading clean-energy investments were shared with the reporter, it is necessary to reiterate them, because they were largely ignored.  

As the article concedes, Dominion Energy has consistently had all-in rates below the national average for many years, including all the years covered by this article. These rates have also been remarkably stable, increasing on average by 1 percent annually over the past 15 years. As of July 1, Dominion Energy Virginia rates will decrease further to be more than 20 percent below the national average.  

These low, stable rates have been part of a regulatory model that has allowed Dominion Energy to provide extremely reliable service to our customers while helping begin the energy transition in Virginia, resulting in the only wind farm operational in federal waters, follow-on development of one of the largest offshore wind farms in North America, and one of the nation’s leading solar portfolios.  

This regulatory model also resulted in more than $2 billion in refunds, forgiveness of past-due customer bills during the pandemic (at a scale unequaled anywhere in the nation), grid investments (most notably the offshore wind farm now in operation), and rate cuts. This context was notably absent from the story.  

Going forward, Virginia is ideally positioned with extremely competitive rates, a simplified regulatory model, and an all-of-the-above clean-energy strategy. That is why it is puzzling that the plutocrat the article profiles is still fixated on the failed deregulation policy Virginia rejected in 2007.

Bill Murray
Senior Vice President of Corporate Affairs
Dominion Energy