This bill requires Virginia’s State Corporation Commission to submit, no later than May 1, 2022, a report to the State’s General Assembly recommending policy proposals that could govern public electric utility programs to accelerate widespread transportation electrification in the Commonwealth. The Commission must evaluate (i) areas where utility or other public investment may best complement private efforts, with particular focus on low-income, minority, and rural communities; (ii) how smart growth policies can complement and enhance the Commonwealth’s electrification goals; (iii) how utility programs, investments, or incentives can support or enhance (a) statewide electrification; (b) the electrification of medium-duty and heavy-duty vehicles, school buses, vehicles at ports and airports, personal vehicles, and vehicle fleets; (c) access to electric transportation and improved air quality in low-income and medium-income communities; (d) achievement of existing energy storage targets; (e) improvements to the distribution grid or to specific sites necessary to accommodate charging infrastructure; and (f) customer education and outreach programs that increase awareness of such programs and the benefits of transportation electrification. The bill also requires that the report address whether and how transportation electrification can (a) reduce total ratepayer rates and costs; (b) assist in grid management and more efficient use of the grid through time-of-use rates, managed charging programs, vehicle-to-grid programs, or other alternative rate designs; (c) utilize increased generation from renewable energy resources; and (d) reduce fueling costs for vehicles.
Additionally, the bill requires, beginning July 1, 2021, that any approved costs of any investor-owned electric utility associated with investment in transportation electrification be recovered only through the utility’s rates for generation and distribution, prohibits recovery of such costs through a rate adjustment clause, and provides that such costs are not eligible for a customer credit reinvestment offset.