Appalachian Power utility customers in Virginia are about to suffer a double-whammy, resulting from Gov. Youngkin’s short-sighted intentions and State Corporation Commission actions, further exacerbating energy poverty for those already experiencing true regressive cost of living increases.
Earlier this year, the governor led action to remove Virginia’s participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a cap-and-trade partnership between 12 states and energy polluters, i.e., utility companies.
Saying it cost the average residential customer $2.39 a month and industrial customers $1,554 a month, Youngkin puzzlingly said it was a “regressive” tax, which has generated hundreds of millions in new revenue for the Commonwealth in just the first couple years of participating. These funds were designated by the General Assembly to be split between energy conservation incentives for affordable housing to enable low income families to save on monthly operating costs, and on flood control initiatives in Tidewater Virginia from looming sea level increases due to climate change.
Then last week, to make the situation worse, the independent State Corporation Commission approved a 10% rate increase for customers of Appalachian Power, to go into effect in the dead of winter this coming January. This will add $16 per month to the average residential bill.
So where does this leave Virginians? If the exit from the RGGI isn’t overturned through new legislative action by the General Assembly, air pollution will be more profitable, climate change will be negatively exacerbated, and desperately needed new housing will lose access to energy conservation measures. Flood control improvements in the governor’s back yard will also be harder to finance.
Nonprofit housing development organizations will be unable to reduce future increases in inevitable monthly operating energy costs for lower income residents through more energy efficient construction practices. So for an imagined $2.39 per month increase because of RGGI participation, the actual cost will be an immediate five-fold in out-of-pocket utility expenses, and that’s before the impact of adverse health and environmental consequences are added in, as they should be.
Energy poverty will increasingly define our quality of life, and until industries are incentivized to reduce pollution, the true burden will fall on those least able to absorb it. Restore and preserve RGGI. All Virginians deserve a new bill of rights which enshrines access to a fair and equitable quality of life.
Andy Kegley recently retired after nearly three decades as executive director of Open Door Community, a nonprofit housing and food organization based in Wytheville. Open Door Community, formerly known as HOPE Inc., has received past and applied for pending commitments of proceeds from RGGI through the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development’s Housing Innovations in Energy Efficiency program.