Proposed Commission Would Expand Beyond Electricity to Oversee All Forms of Energy in Virginia 

A legislative commission created in 2008 to oversee one narrow function of two electric utilities is about to expand its scope of oversight of all forms of energy in Virginia, including nuclear, coal, and natural gas. It will be the legislative counterpart – and counterweight – to the politically independent State Corporation Commission.

The bill to accomplish that (House Bill 633) qualifies as one of the most sweeping and dangerous pieces of legislation pending at the 2026 General Assembly, and that is saying something when one reads the other bills that have been filed. Adding a touch of irony, the patron of the bill granting such sweeping power to legislative Democrats is the Republican House Minority Leader, and he hails from the heart of coal country.

The bill abolishes the long-standing Virginia Coal and Energy Commission he serves on, which admittedly had been inactive in recent years, and transfers its role to this group. The name changes from the Commission on Electric Utility Regulation (CEUR) to the Energy Commission of Virginia (ECV). The first provision of the ECV’s powers in the new bill directs it to:

Examine the production, transmission, distribution, storage, and use of energy in the Commonwealth, including energy efficiency and conservation, as part of monitoring the development and implementation of the Energy Policy of the Commonwealth (§ 45.2-1705 et seq.) and the Virginia Energy Plan (§ 45.2-1710 et seq.). 

The energy policy it references in the Code of Virginia could not be more committed to the mission of abolishing hydrocarbon energy in every sector of the economy, not just in the electricity industry. Its overriding policy principles include: “Climate change is an urgent and pressing challenge for the Commonwealth. Swift decarbonization and a transition to clean energy are required to meet the urgency of the challenge…”

In 2008 this legislative panel was created just to track the implementation of the 2007 legislation that returned Virginia’s two investor-owned electric companies to regulation. Now it will also be directly overseeing the State Corporation Commission’s regulation of electricity in general, the natural gas industry and keeping its eyes on every other energy-related agency or advisory panel in the Commonwealth.

Since its revival when Democrats took control of the legislature in 2024, the Commission on Electric Utility Regulation (CEUR) has been the nursery for most of the expansive energy bills vetoed by Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) in prior years, bills now back for 2026 with the expectation that Governor Abigail Spanberger (D) will sign them. The 2026 versions include:

• Another legislative mandate on adding battery storage systems to the assets of the two investor-owned utilities, Dominion Energy Virginia and Appalachian Power Company. The new version, House Bill 895, demands even more batteries than the 2025 version. By 2045 the two utilities are to have up to 21 gigawatts batteries storing up to 135 gigawatt-hours of electricity, including batteries capable of discharging up to 24 hours. Based on what Dominion Energy is paying for battery capacity now, the cost might be staggering. Cut that in half and it is still the largest capital spend the state has ever mandated. 
• A major revision to the integrated resource planning process undertaken by the two utilities, fully integrating the anti-hydrocarbon provisions of the Virginia Clean Economy Act and that energy policy. The bills are House Bill 429 and Senate Bill 249. A presumed “social cost of carbon” will be applied to all cost versus benefit decisions, artificially giving a huge advantage to wind and solar proposals.
• Governor Spanberger specifically included House Bill 2 in her early list of energy “affordability” measures. It directs the two major utilities to massively ramp up efforts – paid for by general ratepayers – to weatherize and upgrade appliances in tens of thousands of low-income housing units. The “prescriptive efficiency measures” it proposes to impose mean those revamped units won’t be using natural gas, propane or heating oil. 

That is just a glimpse into Virginia’s future once the Energy Commission of Virginia has full authority to push policies across the entire energy economy, with enough funding and full-time committed staff to expand that reach. 

Another key 2026 bill already introduced, but not a CEUR bill, is the return of Virginia to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. That happens with the passage of House Bill 397, with the Democratic House Majority Leader as its patron. It would allow Virginia to be back collecting the related carbon tax in the second half of 2026. 

The Thomas Jefferson Institute will be reporting on the progress of those bills during the session. Each will deserve a future description in detail. Most in past years have gotten far too little attention both from the legislators and from the media “watchdogs” who claim to be telling their readers about bills that will have the greatest impact. 

Cost is the most ignored aspect of these bills. No ratepayer impact statements are provided on these bills usually, either from the residential or business user’s point of view. In this age of “affordability” the first question from every legislator should be what will this cost, who will pay for it, and who will decide if the benefits outweigh the costs? 

The answer to that final question should usually be the regulators at the State Corporation Commission. Often nobody asks whether the bills allow the SCC to assert its traditional authority to say no if it sees an energy proposal that is not necessary, reasonable or prudent (all three tests should apply). Too often, the Assembly simply directs the SCC to say yes.  

Steve Haner is a Senior Fellow for Environment and Energy Policy. Steve Haner can be reached at Steve@thomasjeffersoninst.org.