Contact: Priscilla Knight, 703-392-1580, pknight@novec.com
NORTHERN VIRGINIA ― Stan Feuerberg, president and CEO of the Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative, told Virginia legislators at a Dec. 9, 2009, meeting that Co-op customers have used a little less power in recent months compared to the same time a year ago, but requiring electric utilities to further reduce Virginia’s power consumption by a substantial amount before 2025 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions will be costly for consumers.
“Last year’s General Assembly considered a bill to require utilities to reduce electricity consumption by 19 percent by 2025, Feuerberg said. “We think that’s awfully ambitious. We’re for a clean environment, but at a price customers can afford.” Feuerberg noted that a recent proposal to reduce consumption 10 percent by 2025 is an achievable alternative. "We hope you will support a balanced solution for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.”
“We’re seeing the effects of the distressed economy, because energy sales have been down during the autumn months this year,” Feuerberg reported. “It could be the economy, as well as the weather and our many energy conservation messages.”
Feuerberg told legislators at the meeting in Manassas, Va., that NOVEC has not increased distribution charges since 1991. “We’ve been able to hold down expenses because of increased employee productivity and our use of more and more computer technology,” Feuerberg explained. “But we spend 80 percent of every dollar on wholesale power. Cap and trade, the proposed solution to greenhouse gas emissions now in the hands of the U.S. Senate, will only make wholesale power costs increase.”
Feuerberg said, “Our surveys indicate that our customers are highly educated and tech-savvy. They expect reliable electric service at affordable rates.” He said NOVEC has been the most reliable electric utility from Delaware to North Carolina for the eleventh consecutive year, and a 2009 J.D. Power customer satisfaction survey rates NOVEC sixth out of 121 electric utilities in the U.S. in overall customer satisfaction. The president and CEO noted that as a not-for-profit company, the Co-op has returned more than $254 million to former and current customers since 1999 through NOVEC’s CashBack program.
Feuerberg asked the legislators to support a bill that would allow electric utilities to install prepaid metering equipment at a customer’s request. He also asked them to support a bill that would amend Code of Virginia §56-576 and 577 that would define renewable energy certificates as a marketable environmental commodity. The legislation would create a marketplace for renewable energy in Virginia and create an option for utilities to sell – and customers to buy – “green” energy.
Virginia legislators who attended the meeting:
- Mark Herring, senator, 33rd district
- George Barker, senator, 39th district
- L. Scott Lingamfelter, delegate, 31st district
- Jackson Miller, delegate, 50th district
- Charniele Herring, delegate, 46th district
- Richard Anderson, delegate-elect, 51st district
- Luke Torian, delegate-elect, 52nd district
- Peggy Tyree-Wells, representing Charles Colgan, senator, 29th district
- Michelle Saggese, representing Bob Marshall, delegate, 13th district
- Kathryn Rawley, representing Jackson Miller, delegate, 50th district
- Philip Newell, representing Luke Torian, delegate-elect, 52nd district
