State regulators have given Central Virginia Electric Cooperative approval to increase its rates starting Wednesday.
The monthly bill of an average residential customer using 1,160 kilowatt-hours will go up $8.48, or 4.54%, to $199.10.
CVEC last raised rates in October by $3.39 per month for an average residential customer. The last time it had an increase significant enough to require approval from state regulators was in 2018.
“There are many drivers for an increase since 2018, including cost of living increases, supply chain and materials increases, and wage increases as well as increases in health insurance costs,” CVEC spokesperson Melissa Gay said in an email.
Gay said another large impact on expenses came from Dominion Energy and Appalachian Power, which supply power to the cooperative, upgrading their transmission lines. That required CVEC to invest $60 million, financed with new loans, to upgrade five of its substations and multiple transmission lines to match the new, higher voltages from the state’s two largest electric utilities.
[Disclosure: Dominion is one of our donors, but donors have no say in news decisions; see our policy.]
“The higher rates will help pay for this increase in debt since there is not a significant number of new customers on these lines,” Gay said.
The State Corporation Commission, which regulates electric utilities in Virginia, approved CVEC’s rate request on June 5 after the cooperative filed its application last month.
The increase is intended to provide CVEC with an additional $4.6 million in annual revenue.
Arrington-based CVEC provides electric service for 39,000 members in 14 counties: Albemarle, Amherst, Appomattox, Augusta, Buckingham, Campbell, Cumberland, Fluvanna, Goochland, Greene, Louisa, Nelson, Orange and Prince Edward.