On November 24, the Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) issued its final order in Dominion Energy’s Shared Solar minimum bill proceeding — delivering a long-awaited fix that will make the program far more workable for customers. The ruling represents a major improvement for Virginians who are not exempt from the minimum bill and will help expand access to one of the state’s most effective tools for lowering energy costs.
The Shared Solar program aligns with Governor-elect Abigail Spanberger’s Affordable Virginia Plan, ensuring that all Virginians can access affordable, reliable energy. However, the Commission stopped short of recognizing the full benefits that shared solar projects bring to the electric grid, consumers and ultimately to the Commonwealth of Virginia.
The Shared Solar program was created in 2020 — and expanded again in 2024 — to help renters and households that can’t install rooftop solar gain access to affordable clean energy. Customers subscribe to a local project and receive bill credits that lower their monthly power costs. But when the SCC set an extremely high “minimum bill” in 2022, Shared Solar became more expensive — not more affordable — for most non-low-income participants, preventing the program from working as intended.
“Today’s order represents a significant course correction and should help more customers access one of Virginia’s most effective energy-affordability programs. The Commission made significant progress toward improving Dominion’s Shared Solar Program in this ruling and we look forward to working with them next year to recognize the full range of grid and ratepayer benefits these projects deliver so the program can operate as the General Assembly intended,” said Charlie Coggeshall, Mid-Atlantic regional director for CCSA.
A key part of yesterday’s ruling is that the Commission reversed the flawed methodology adopted in 2022 and aligned Dominion’s minimum bill structure with the framework recently approved for Appalachian Power Company’s Shared Solar program. Under the new structure, the minimum bill acts as a simple floor — the lowest point a subscriber’s bill can go — instead of being added on top of a customer’s bill.
For example, if a customer’s monthly Dominion bill is $100 and the minimum bill is $60, Shared Solar credits can now reduce that bill to $60. Under the old system, the customer would have paid the $100 bill plus the $60 minimum bill, eliminating their savings entirely.
While the ruling is a major step forward, the Commission again limited the list of benefits that Shared Solar projects are allowed to count toward reducing the minimum bill. The Commission recognized only avoided generation and transmission costs for now, leaving out additional grid benefits — like avoided line losses and ancillary services — that lower system costs for all customers. Although regulators directed Dominion to study those benefits further, they declined to include them in this minimum bill calculation. They also continued to treat the broader economic and environmental benefits of shared solar as fully captured by renewable energy certificates, despite evidence to the contrary.
“CCSA remains committed to ensuring that the full value of shared solar — for customers, the Commonwealth and the electric grid — is reflected in Virginia’s policies. We look forward to working with the Commission, Dominion, APCo and stakeholders during the recalculation proceedings expected over the coming months to ensure customers are being fairly compensated for the value that’s being created,” said Coggeshall.
News item from CCSA
