Title of Regulation: 20VAC5-316. Regulations Governing Exemptions for Large General Services Customers under § 56-585.1 A 5 c of the Code of Virginia (repealing 20VAC5-316-10 through 20VAC5-316-50).

Statutory Authority: §§ 12.1-13 and 56-585.1 of the Code of Virginia.

Effective Date: October 1, 2018.

Agency Contact: Andrea B. Macgill, Associate General Counsel, State Corporation Commission, P.O. Box 1197, Richmond, VA 23218, telephone (804) 371-9064, FAX (804) 371-9240, or email andrea.macgill@scc.virginia.gov.

Summary:

Chapter 296 of the 2018 Acts of Assembly repeals the provisions (i) requiring a large general service customer with a verifiable history of using more than 500 kilowatts, that does not wish to participate in an electric utility's energy efficiency program, to demonstrate that it has implemented an energy efficiency program, at the customer's expense, that has produced or will produce measured and verified results and (ii) requiring the State Corporation Commission to promulgate regulations regarding the process under which such large general service customers file notice of such exemption. Therefore, the Large General Service Customer Exemption Rules (20VAC5-316, Regulations Governing Exemptions for Large General Services Customers under § 56-585.1 A 5 c of the Code of Virginia) are repealed.

AT RICHMOND, SEPTEMBER 21, 2018

COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA, ex rel.

STATE CORPORATION COMMISSION

CASE NO. PUR-2018-00126

Ex Parte: In the matter of repealing Regulations
Governing Exemptions for Large General Service
Customers under § 56-585.1 A 5 c of the Code of Virginia

ORDER REPEALING REGULATIONS

The Regulations Governing Exemptions for Large General Service Customers under § 56-585.1 A 5 c of the Code of Virginia ("Code"), 20 VAC 5-316-10 et seq. ("LGS Customer Exemption Rules"), adopted by the State Corporation Commission ("Commission") pursuant to § 56-585.1 of the Virginia Electric Utility Regulation Act, Chapter 23 (§ 56-576 et seq.) of Title 56 of the Code, apply to the large general service customers of Virginia's electric utilities subject to the provisions of § 56-585.1 A 5 c that have verifiable histories of using more than 500 kilowatts but no more than 10 megawatts of demand from a single metering point. The LGS Customer Exemption Rules establish requirements for such large general service customers to request exemption from any rate adjustment clause approved by the Commission pursuant to § 56-585.1 A 5 c of the Code, if the customer can demonstrate that it has implemented an energy efficiency program, at the customer's expense, that has produced or will produce measured and verified results.¹

On August 13, 2018, the Commission entered an Order for Notice and Comment ("Order") to consider repealing the LGS Customer Exemption Rules to reflect statutory changes enacted by Chapter 296 of the 2018 Acts of Assembly ("Chapter 296"), which amended § 56-585.1 A 5 c of the Code to state, in part: 

None of the costs of new energy efficiency programs of an electric utility, including recovery of revenue reductions, shall be assigned to any large general service customer. A large general service customer is a customer that has a verifiable history of having used more than 500 kilowatts of demand from a single meter of delivery.

Chapter 296 eliminated from Code § 56-585.1 A 5 c the language requiring a large general service customer with a verifiable history of using more than 500 kW, who does not wish to participate in an electric utility's energy efficiency program or programs, to demonstrate that it has implemented an energy efficiency program, at the customer's expense, that has produced or will produce measured and verified results.  Chapter 296 also eliminated the language in § 56-585.1 A 5 c that required the Commission to "promulgate rules and regulations to accommodate the process under which such large general service customers shall file notice of such exemption . . ." Accordingly, there appears to be no need to retain the LGS Customer Exemption Rules.

The Commission appended to its Order a proposed repeal of the LGS Customer Exemption Rules ("Proposed Repeal") to reflect the statutory changes resulting from Chapter 96. Interested persons were directed to file any comments and requests for hearing on the Proposed Repeal on or before September 17, 2018.

Notice of the proceeding and the Proposed Repeal were published in the Virginia Register of Regulations on September 3, 2018.

Virginia Electric and Power Company d/b/a Dominion Energy Virginia ("DEV") filed comments stating that DEV does not oppose the Proposed Repeal. No one requested a hearing on the Proposed Repeal.

NOW THE COMMISSION, upon consideration of this matter, is of the opinion and finds that the Regulations Governing Exemptions for Large General Service Customers under § 56-585.1 A 5 c of the Code, 20 VAC 5-316-10 et seq., shall be repealed, as reflected in Appendix A, attached hereto.

Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED THAT:

(1) The Regulations Governing Exemptions for Large General Service Customers under § 56-585.1 A 5 c of the Code, 20 VAC 5-316-10 et seq., hereby are repealed, effective as of October 1, 2018.

(2) A copy of this Order with Appendix A shall be forwarded to the Registrar of Regulations for publication in the Virginia Register of Regulations.

(3) On or before December 1, 2018, each utility in the Commonwealth subject to Chapter 23 (§ 56-576 et seq.) of Title 56 of the Code shall file with the Clerk of the Commission, in this docket, one (1) original document containing any revised tariff provisions necessary to reflect the repeal approved herein, and each such utility also shall file a copy of the document containing the revised tariff provisions with the Commission's Division of Public Utility Regulation. The Clerk of the Commission need not distribute copies but shall make such filings available for public inspection in the Clerk's Office and post them on the Commission's website at: http://www.scc.virginia.gov/case.

(4) This docket shall remain open to receive the filings from electric utilities pursuant to Ordering Paragraph (3).

AN ATTESTED COPY hereof shall be sent by the Clerk of the Commission to all persons on Attachment A hereto and C. Meade Browder, Jr., Senior Assistant Attorney General, Office of the Attorney General, Division of Consumer Counsel, 202 N. 9th Street, 8th Floor, Richmond, Virginia 23219-3424. A copy hereof shall be delivered to the Commission's Office of General Counsel and the Divisions of Public Utility Regulation and Utility Accounting and Finance.

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¹ See 20 VAC 5-316-10.