{"id":625285,"date":"2026-05-05T18:07:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T18:07:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/625285\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T18:07:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T18:07:15","slug":"can-a-carbon-price-lower-power-bills-virginia-is","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/625285\/","title":{"rendered":"Can a carbon price lower power bills? Virginia is\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

That surge in demand means that Virginia\u2019s utilities will have to purchase more carbon permits from RGGI, which will make it more expensive for them to burn natural gas. Even though Virginia left the alliance for a\u00a0few years under Youngkin, it will have to keep up with the pace of decarbonization across the rest of the Northeast.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Virginia] is coming back at the allocation where they would be if they had not left,\u201d said Andrew McKeon, the head of the nonprofit that manages RGGI, during a\u00a0recent talk at the BloombergNEF energy summit in New York\u00a0City.<\/p>\n

But returning to RGGI might not harm Spanberger\u2019s affordability agenda as much as opponents claim. States spend the revenue raised from permits on projects that help reduce energy bills<\/a>. Before it left the program, Virginia spent about $250 million in RGGI funds to make low-income households more energy efficient by, for instance, weatherizing homes against temperature swings<\/a> and upgrading HVAC systems. These improvements even benefit customers who don\u2019t receive them<\/a> because using less energy tamps down prices. That\u2019s not to mention the future health benefits of reduced pollution from coal and gas plants.<\/p>\n

Data centers themselves will likely foot a\u00a0large share of the bill for rejoining RGGI, since they use such a\u00a0big share of the state\u2019s electricity. Late last year, Dominion rolled out a\u00a0new rate structure<\/a> for \u200b\u201clarge load\u201d users, requiring them to pay for most of the cost of generating and distributing the power they need, an effort to ensure those costs didn\u2019t get spread onto ordinary homeowners. Shobe said that Virginia legislators are weighing whether to change the way they spend RGGI\u2019s revenues so that some of the money gets funneled to help low-income families pay their electric bills.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt [would be] an automatic mechanism for recovering some of those increased costs and giving it back,\u201d he said. Some low-income households that don\u2019t use much energy would see their bills go down compared to if Virginia weren\u2019t in RGGI. (Shobe has been appointed to Virginia\u2019s state air pollution control board, though he doesn\u2019t have an affiliation with the Spanberger administration.)<\/p>\n

Even if RGGI doesn\u2019t threaten Spanberger\u2019s promise to lower energy bills, experts disagree about how much the cap-and-trade program will speed Virginia\u2019s shift off fossil fuels. The state legislature has already ordered Dominion to phase out all its fossil fuel plants by 2045, although the utility is allowed to keep them open if it\u2019s necessary to avoid blackouts. Dominion has brought around 2\u00a0gigawatts of solar power online over the past decade, and plans another 16\u00a0gigawatts over the next decade, at a\u00a0cost of around $8 billion. In 2024, fossil fuels made up about 60% of Virginia\u2019s energy mix, with the rest coming from nuclear and some\u00a0solar.<\/p>\n

Dominion will also soon begin taking power from the country\u2019s largest offshore wind farm, Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind, which is nearing completion despite interference from the Trump administration. But the company is also seeking to expand a\u00a0large gas power plant over the objection of environmentalists and community groups. Dominion plans to spend even more money on gas development than on solar, and it has met data center demand by importing power from dirtier coal and gas plants in West Virginia and Ohio. The utility said last year that phasing out its use of fossil fuels to meet the state\u2019s law would cost $270 billion. (Environmental groups have disputed these estimates.)<\/p>\n

Given the existing Virginia Clean Economy Act mandate and the high cost of maintaining reliable round-the-clock power without fossil fuels, some doubt that RGGI will push Virginia off natural gas any faster.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t see a\u00a0magic wand; we\u2019re hitting the ceilings everywhere,\u201d said Shuting Pomerleau, an energy analyst at American Action Forum, a\u00a0center-right think tank. \u200b\u201cI will be very skeptical if all these things combined could accelerate the decarbonization much faster than it currently already is.\u201d<\/p>\n

But supporters of Virginia\u2019s rejoining RGGI argue that it will influence decisions made by Dominion and other utilities. These companies will soon need to spend tens of billions of dollars to meet surging demand, and that power has to come from somewhere. The financial nudge of RGGI will make investment in solar and batteries look more appealing compared to holding on to fossil fuels, said Jamie Dickerson, a\u00a0senior policy analyst at the Acadia Center, a\u00a0climate policy think\u00a0tank.<\/p>\n

\u201cRGGI will be a\u00a0direct price signal,\u201d Dickerson said.<\/p>\n

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