Dominion, attorney general and SCC staff reach deal in contentious rate case
If approved, customers would see $330 million in refunds and a $50 million rate reduction
By: Sarah Vogelsong - October 18, 2021 6:53 pm

Dominion Energy announced Monday evening that it has reached a settlement with Virginia’s Office of the Attorney General and public utility commission staff to resolve disputes in its ongoing rate review, the first since 2015.

The commission staff and the attorney general have alleged the utility, Virginia’s largest, raked in almost $1 billion in excess profits between 2017 and 2020.

Under the settlement, which must still be approved by the State Corporation Commission, customers would receive $330 million in refunds and a $50 million reduction in rates going forward. The going-forward rate reduction is the maximum amount allowed by law under the 2018 Grid Transformation and Security Act. For the average residential customer, Dominion estimated that those figures would translate to a refund of approximately $67 and a monthly bill decrease of about 90 cents.

Dominion would receive a slightly higher return for its shareholders with a 9.35 percent return on equity compared to the current 9.2 percent rate. The electric utility had requested a return of 10.8 percent.

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