The State Corporation Commission (the Commission) shall establish for Phase II Utilities annual energy efficiency savings targets for customers who are low-income, elderly, disabled, or veterans of military service to be achieved through utility energy efficiency programs (low-income energy efficiency savings programs) designed to benefit such customers, provided that each year’s target shall be measured by the total combined kilowatt-hour savings achieved by electric utility energy efficiency and demand response programs and measures installed for such customers in that program year, as well as savings still being achieved by measures and programs implemented for such customers in prior years, and that such annual targets shall be at least one percent of the average annual energy retail sales by that utility to those customers, to the extent that the potential exists and is reasonably achievable as determined by the Commission.

Terms Used In Virginia Code 56-596.2:2

  • Commission: means the State Corporation Commission. See Virginia Code 56-576
  • Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
  • Demand response: means measures aimed at shifting time of use of electricity from peak-use periods to times of lower demand by inducing retail customers to curtail electricity usage during periods of congestion and higher prices in the electrical grid. See Virginia Code 56-576
  • Electric utility: means any person that generates, transmits, or distributes electric energy for use by retail customers in the Commonwealth, including any investor-owned electric utility, cooperative electric utility, or electric utility owned or operated by a municipality. See Virginia Code 56-576
  • State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes any of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-245

In establishing such targets, the Commission shall seek to optimize energy efficiency and the health and safety benefits of utility energy efficiency programs.

In advance of the effective date of such annual energy efficiency targets, the first of which shall be for 2025, the Commission shall, after notice and opportunity for hearing, initiate proceedings to establish such targets and the appropriate retail sales against which the energy efficiency targets will be measured.

In setting such targets, the Commission shall consider the impact and savings of energy efficiency programs authorized by subdivision C 2 of § 10.1-1330 of the Code of Virginia. The Commission shall also consider federal loan guarantees, grant funds, and rebates made available pursuant to the federal Inflation Reduction Act (P.L. 117-169) or other similar federal legislation that facilitates energy efficiency projects.

The Commission shall, for the period 2028 through 2030, review and, at its discretion, revise such minimum annual targets to ensure continued consistency with the provisions of this section.

All savings from low-income energy efficiency programs shall be applied to the energy efficiency savings set forth in subsection B of § 56-596.2 of the Code of Virginia.

In providing such low-income energy efficiency programs, Phase II Utilities shall make best efforts to coordinate such energy efficiency programs with any health and safety upgrades provided through energy efficiency programs authorized by subdivision C 2 of § 10.1-1330 of the Code of Virginia, when reasonably feasible to do so and at the utility’s sole discretion.

For the purposes of this act, “Phase II Utility” has the same meaning as provided in subdivision A 1 of § 56-585.1 of the Code of Virginia.

2023, c. 728.

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