How Spanberger plans to lower Virginia's electric bills
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With Democrats soon to control the governor's mansion and both chambers of the General Assembly, Virginia's energy policy is set to veer from Gov. Youngkin's approach these past four years.
Why it matters: Lowering energy costs was one of Democrats' winning messages. Now they have to deliver on it.
State of play: Both Republicans and Democrats have said Virginians need reliable and affordable energy. They just diverge on their strategies.
- Youngkin's "all-of-the-above" plan favored natural gas and nuclear energy and rolling back regulations he said drove up utility bills — including the controversial withdrawal from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI).
- Gov.-Elect Spanberger supports nuclear energy and acknowledges that natural gas plays a role, but has stopped short of endorsing it. She's vowed to rejoin RGGI.
- Spanberger also wants to accelerate solar and battery storage projects and make sure data centers pay their "fair share" of power costs to reduce how much is passed to consumers.
Zoom in: RGGI is a multi-state program that caps carbon emissions from power plants and partly uses the revenue for energy efficiency efforts.
- Before the state withdrew from RGGI, Virginians paid around $2 a month for it in their power bills, reports Virginia Mercury.
- Youngkin has called that RGGI fee a "hidden tax" for ratepayers.
- Spanberger has pledged to negotiate the rate for the program, which sends money back to the states to use for energy efficiency programs.
Zoom out: Cost of living — and by default, people's bills — was a top worry for voters this year.
- And the political transition comes as Dominion Energy seeks approval for several rate hikes that could raise Virginians' power bills by roughly $20 over two years.
- Regulators are also weighing a new rate class for data centers, which could have tech giants like Amazon and Google paying billions toward the grid powering their facilities.
By the numbers: Nationally, an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll last month found that electricity bills were a "major" source of stress for 36% of those surveyed.
What we're watching: The League of Conservation Voters said in a statement that last week's elections "prove that electricity bills are the kitchen table issue driving Democratic wins in 2025 and beyond."
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