Title 56, Title 56. Public Service Companies

As used in this chapter, unless the context requires a different meaning: "Affected jurisdiction" means any county, city or town in which all or a portion of a qualifying project is located. "Appropriating body" means the body responsible for appropriating or authorizing funding …

A. Any financing of a qualifying facility may be in such amounts and upon such terms and conditions as may be determined by the parties to the interim or comprehensive agreement. Without limiting the generality of the terms and conditions of the financing, the private entity and …

A. In the event of a material default by the private entity, the responsible public entity may elect to assume the responsibilities and duties of the private entity of the qualifying project, and in such case, it shall succeed to all of the right, title and interest in such quali…

At the request of the private entity, the responsible public entity may exercise any power of condemnation that it has under law for the purpose of acquiring any lands or estates or interests therein to the extent that the responsible public entity finds that such action serves t…

The private entity and each public service company, public utility, railroad, and cable television provider, whose facilities are to be crossed or affected shall cooperate fully with the other entity in planning and arranging the manner of the crossing or relocation of the facili…

All police officers of the Commonwealth and of each affected local jurisdiction shall have the same powers and jurisdiction within the limits of such qualifying project as they have in their respective areas of jurisdiction and such police officers shall have access to the qualif…

Nothing in this chapter shall be construed as or deemed a waiver of the sovereign immunity of the Commonwealth, any responsible public entity or any affected local jurisdiction or any officer or employee thereof with respect to the participation in, or approval of all or any part…

The Virginia Public Procurement Act (§ 2.2-4300 et seq.) and any interpretations, regulations, or guidelines of the Division of Engineering and Buildings of the Department of General Services or the Virginia Information Technologies Agency, including the Capital Outlay Manual and…

A. Conceptual proposals submitted in accordance with subsection A or B of § 56-575.4 to a responsible public entity shall be posted by the responsible public entity within 10 working days after acceptance of such proposals as follows: 1. For responsible public entities that are s…

A. No private entity that has submitted a bid or proposal to a public entity that is an executive branch agency directly responsible to the Governor and is seeking to develop or operate a qualifying project pursuant to this chapter, and no individual who is an officer or director…

The Auditor of Public Accounts shall periodically review interim and comprehensive agreements entered into pursuant to this chapter to ensure compliance with the provisions of this chapter. Copies of the agreements and supporting documents must be electronically filed with the Au…

A. The General Assembly finds that: 1. There is a public need for timely acquisition, design, construction, improvement, renovation, expansion, equipping, maintenance, operation, implementation, or installation of education facilities, technology infrastructure and other public i…

A. Any private entity seeking authorization under this chapter to develop or operate a qualifying project shall first obtain approval of the responsible public entity under § 56-575.4. Such private entity may initiate the approval process by requesting approval pursuant to subsec…

A. A responsible public entity shall, prior to requesting or considering a proposal for a qualifying project, adopt and make publicly available guidelines that are sufficient to enable the responsible public entity to comply with this chapter. Such guidelines shall be reasonable,…

A. A private entity may request approval of a qualifying project by the responsible public entity. Any such request shall be accompanied by the following material and information unless waived by the responsible public entity: 1. A topographic map (1:2,000 or other appropriate sc…

In addition to any authority otherwise conferred by law, any public entity may contract with a private entity for the delivery of services to be provided as part of a qualifying project in exchange for such service payments and other consideration as such public entity may deem a…

A. Any private entity requesting approval from, or submitting a proposal to, a responsible public entity under § 56-575.4 shall notify each affected local jurisdiction by furnishing a copy of its request or proposal to each affected local jurisdiction. B. Each affected local juri…

Any public entity may dedicate any property interest, including land, improvements, and tangible personal property, that it has for public use in a qualifying project if it finds that so doing will serve the public purpose of this chapter by minimizing the cost of a qualifying pr…

A. The private entity shall have all power allowed by law generally to a private entity having the same form of organization as the private entity and shall have the power to develop or operate the qualifying project and collect lease payments, impose user fees or enter into serv…

A. Prior to developing or operating the qualifying project, the private entity shall enter into a comprehensive agreement with the responsible public entity. The comprehensive agreement shall provide for: 1. Delivery of maintenance, performance and payment bonds, letters of credi…

Prior to or in connection with the negotiation of the comprehensive agreement, the responsible public entity may enter into an interim agreement with the private entity proposing the development or operation of the qualifying project. Such interim agreement may (i) permit the pri…

As used in this chapter: "Affiliate" means any person that controls, is controlled by, or is under common control with an electric utility. "Aggregator" means a person that, as an agent or intermediary, (i) offers to purchase, or purchases, electric energy or (ii) offers to arran…

A. Retail competition for the purchase and sale of electric energy shall be subject to the following provisions: 1. Each incumbent electric utility owning, operating, controlling, or having an entitlement to transmission capacity shall join or establish a regional transmission en…

A. The Commission shall conduct a pilot program under which two or more nonresidential customers that, as of February 25, 2019, had filed applications seeking to aggregate their load pursuant to subdivision A 4 of § 56-577 within the service territory of a Phase II Utility, as th…

A. All distributors shall have the obligation to connect any retail customer, including those using distributed generation, located within its service territory to those facilities of the distributor that are used for delivery of retail electric energy, subject to Commission rule…

A. As set forth in § 56-577, each incumbent electric utility owning, operating, controlling, or having an entitlement to transmission capacity shall join or establish a regional transmission entity, which hereafter may be referred to as "RTE," to which such utility shall transfer…

A. As used in this section: "Affiliate" means the same as that term is defined in § 56-576. "Licensed supplier" means any voting member of the regional transmission entity that has generation or transmission facilities in the Commonwealth and sells electricity to purchasers in th…

A. Subject to the provisions of § 56-585.1, the Commission shall continue to regulate pursuant to this title the distribution of retail electric energy to retail customers in the Commonwealth and, to the extent not prohibited by federal law, the transmission of electric energy in…

A. The Commission shall regulate the rates of investor-owned incumbent electric utilities for the transmission of electric energy, to the extent not prohibited by federal law, and for the generation of electric energy and the distribution of electric energy to retail customers pu…

A. As used in this section: "Electrical distribution infrastructure" means equipment, structures, and associated engineering and civil construction work designed to support electric vehicle charging stations, including poles, vaults, service drops, transformers, mounting pads, tr…

Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision B 1 of § 56-1.2:1, beginning January 1, 2028, no Phase I or Phase II Utility shall petition for approval of expenditures to own and operate public-facing electric vehicle fast-charging stations, as defined in § 56-581.2, unless such s…

A. The Commission shall establish capped rates, effective January 1, 2001, for each service territory of every incumbent utility as follows: 1. Capped rates shall be established for customers purchasing bundled electric transmission, distribution and generation services from an i…

Just and reasonable net stranded costs, to the extent that they exceed zero value in total for the incumbent electric utility, shall be recoverable by each incumbent electric utility provided each incumbent electric utility shall only recover its just and reasonable net stranded …

A. The Commission shall, after notice and opportunity for hearing, (i) determine the components of default service and (ii) establish one or more programs making such services available to retail customers requiring them during the availability throughout the Commonwealth of cust…

A. During the first six months of 2009, the Commission shall, after notice and opportunity for hearing, initiate proceedings to review the rates, terms and conditions for the provision of generation, distribution and transmission services of each investor-owned incumbent electric…

A. No biennial reviews of the rates, terms, and conditions for any service of a Phase I Utility, as defined in § 56-585.1, shall be conducted at any time by the Commission for the three successive 12-month test periods beginning January 1, 2014, and ending December 31, 2016. No b…

The Virginia Economic Development Partnership shall conduct a program with each Phase I and Phase II Utility, as those terms are defined in subsection A of § 56-585, in each such utility's service territory or transmission zone for the purpose of promoting economic development in…

A. As used in this section: "Advanced clean energy buyer" means a commercial or industrial customer of a Phase II Utility, irrespective of generation supplier, (i) with an aggregate load over 100 megawatts; (ii) with an aggregate amount of at least 200 megawatts of solar or wind …

A. As used in this section: "Applicable bill credit rate" means the dollar-per-kilowatt-hour rate as defined in subsection D used to calculate a subscriber's bill credit. The applicable bill credit rate shall be set such that the shared solar program results in robust project dev…

Beginning July 1, 2021, any approved costs of any investor-owned electric utility associated with investment in transportation electrification, other than those costs approved prior to July 1, 2021, shall be recovered only through the utility's rates for generation and distributi…

A. As used in this section: "Small modular reactor" or "SMR" means a nuclear reactor that produces nuclear power and has a nameplate capacity that does not exceed 500 megawatts of generating capacity per reactor. "SMR facility" means an SMR or multiple SMRs that generate electric…

A. As used in this section: "Phase I Utility" means an investor-owned incumbent electric utility that was, as of July 1, 1999, not bound by a rate case settlement adopted by the Commission that extended its application beyond January 1, 2002. "Project development costs" means all…

A. As used in this section: "Aggregator" means an individual or entity, other than the electric utility, that enrolls customers in the pilot program and coordinates the operation of enrolled energy resources. An aggregator shall not be considered an electric utility by virtue of …

A. As used in this section: "Aggregator" means an individual or entity, other than the electric cooperative, that enrolls customers in a virtual power plant program and coordinates the operation of enrolled energy resources. An aggregator shall not be considered an electric utili…

A. As used in this section, "Phase I Utility" and "Phase II Utility" have the same meanings as provided in subdivision A 1 of § 56-585.1 B. Notwithstanding the provisions of §§ 56-249.6 and 56-585.1: 1. Each Phase I and Phase II Utility shall conduct a pilot program for electric …

A. As used in this section: "Aggregator" means an individual or entity, other than the electric utility, that enrolls customers in the pilot program and coordinates the operation of enrolled energy resources. An aggregator shall not be considered an electric utility by virtue of …