Bills that would allow the state’s two largest utilities to seek approval to charge customers for the costs of developing small modular nuclear reactors won final approval in the House of Delegates and Senate and are now headed to the governor.
On Thursday, floor amendments made Wednesday by the House to Sen. David Marsden’s SB 454 were approved by the Senate in a 26-14 vote.
Originally, Marsden’s bill had applied to both Dominion Energy and Appalachian Power. But Appalachian was removed because HB 1491, a similar bill introduced by Del. Israel O’Quinn, R-Washington County, that passed both chambers in February, covers Appalachian.
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“Now we have one for Dominion and one for Appalachian Power,” said Marsden, D-Fairfax County, who has said a number of times that he doesn’t believe the state can reach its clean energy goals without nuclear power and SMRs.
Other states are ahead of Virginia with regard to SMR development and the commonwealth needs to get in line, he said.
In October 2022, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced he planned to deploy a commercial SMR in Southwest Virginia within 10 years, as part of his “all-of-the-above” energy plan.
Appalachian Power and Dominion have expressed an interest in building SMRs, and Dominion has included them in its long-range plans. But there have been no approvals or final decisions made.
SMRs are smaller, simpler versions of traditional nuclear reactors and can be built in a factory and shipped to a site, which saves time, reduces the risks and is cheaper than constructing a large reactor.
There was some discussion Thursday before the vote. Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Charlottesville, said the amendments make the bill stronger, but he questioned the costs that were discussed in the House on Wednesday. One of the amendments set a cap of $1.75 per month that could be charged to Dominion ratepayers, and there was mention of a total of about $250 million being collected.
However, Deeds said he consulted the State Corporation Commission, which would have to approve any new charges by Dominion and Appalachian Power, and was told that the cap would mean ratepayers could be charged $500 million to $550 million over five years.
“So, those of you who don’t like to impose additional costs on your taxpayers — with this bill, you are authorizing the State Corporation Commission to pass on half a billion dollars’ worth of costs without any guarantee of any electric power,” said Deeds, who voted against approving both the amendments and the original bill.
The other change made to the bill was that it will expire after five years.
Aaron Ruby, manager of media relations for Dominion, said Thursday that company officials are happy the legislation was approved.
“SMRs are important for the clean energy transition,” he wrote in an email. “They’re carbon free and always reliable just like traditional nuclear, but cost less and have a smaller footprint. That’s good for our customers and good for the environment.”
O’Quinn’s bill, which applies to Appalachian Power, would sunset after 10 years.
He said earlier that his bill would allow the utility to collect costs related to the early site permitting process. The bill states that those costs would include evaluation, design, engineering, environmental analysis and permitting, land options and early site permitting, but would not include the costs of obtaining permits, the cost of licenses required by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, or construction costs other than those necessary for early site permitting.
All approved costs would be recovered through a rate adjustment clause amortized over a period when the costs were incurred or five years, whichever is greater.
Appalachian Power does not comment on legislation until the General Assembly session is complete and all bills have crossed the governor’s desk, according to spokesperson Teresa Hall.
The governor has 30 days from adjournment — which happens Saturday — to sign, veto or recommend changes to legislation. A bill becomes law if he doesn’t act by the deadline.