‘The SCC has failed’: State approves $1.47 billion Chesterfield gas plant, related rate hikes for Dominion Energy customers
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CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) -- The Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) has approved Dominion Energy's highly controversial $1.47 billion natural gas plant, as well as a rate hike for customers meant to help fund said development.
On Tuesday, Nov. 25, the SCC -- which regulates several businesses and economic interests in Virginia -- approved the construction and operation of a natural gas plant that Dominion Energy has dubbed the "Chesterfield Energy Reliability Center" (CERC).
CERC has generated significant controversy since its initial proposal years ago. Residents, advocacy groups and even lawmakers have pushed back hard, expressing concern about the environmental impacts of a massive plant powered by fossil fuels, such as air pollution.
By contrast, Dominion Energy has maintained that CERC is the solution to a "critical need" for power. In Tuesday's filing, the SCC explained that Dominion Energy "asserted the proposed project is needed to provide system reliability."
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"Specifically, Dominion asserted that current resources are inadequate to ensure such reliability going forward, particularly given projected demand growth," SCC said.
Friends of Chesterfield, a community-based group comprised of county residents and advocates, has been against CERC from the beginning. In its statement on Tuesday's decision, its board chair, Glen Besa, claimed that the SCC's approval is actually in violation of state law.
"Under the [Virginia] Clean Economy Act, there was a moratorium on new gas plants, and Dominion was to phase out all existing gas and coal plants by 2045," Besa said in the statement. "In this first test of this law, the SCC has failed."
The SCC provides a defense for this claim within Tuesday's filing. According to the SCC, the Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA) has a clause that states "nothing in this act shall require the utilities or the [SCC] to take any action that ... threatens the reliability or security of electric service to the utility's customers."
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"As discussed herein, the evidence in this case clearly establishes that there is an imminent reliability threat for Dominion and its customers and that the CERC Project addresses that threat in a manner that is in accordance with the public interest and the VCEA," the SCC said.
The Sierra Club's Virginia Chapter responded to this claim, saying that, in declaring a "reliability emergency," the SCC is "let[ting] Dominion Energy drive Virginia's energy policy off course, benefitting utility shareholders and the data centers owned by the richest companies in the world, at the expense of Virginia families and our environment."
On the whole, the environmental groups that provided 8News with statements on the SCC's decision fundamentally disagree with the idea that a natural gas plant is the solution to any energy-related problem in the region.
"Today’s disappointing decision from the SCC lays bare that Virginia’s energy regulatory system is fundamentally broken and needs urgent repair," said Brennan Gilmore, Clean Virginia’s executive director, in a statement. "Despite major flaws in Dominion’s application and planning process, the Commission granted approval to a gas plant that breaks Virginia’s commitments to clean air, further drives up electric bills and which would not be necessary absent the gluttonous energy demands of Big Tech companies. If this is the decision the Commission came to under existing rules, then it is upon Virginia’s elected leaders to better align these rules with the interests of all Virginians."
To fund this development, Dominion Energy requested a rate hike for its customers, which the SCC also approved. It will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2026. Per the filing, the increase shakes out to about $0.60 a month for a typical residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity.
"The hundreds of Chesterfield County residents and the thousands more across the state who rallied in opposition to this gas plant and in defense of the Virginia Clean Economy Act will fight on," Friends of Chesterfield said. "It is critical that the General Assembly keep its promise to the people of Virginia ensuring affordable electricity, clean air and a healthy climate, even if the SCC proved today it is not up to the job."
SCC noted in the filing that, per Dominion Energy, CERC could be commercially operational by June 1, 2029.
