A House of Delegates committee on Thursday advanced two bills intended to help low-income residents change from oil and propane heat to electric heat and to study how to reduce barriers to energy-efficiency and weatherization programs.
The bills continue the theme of affordability that has become a keystone of this year’s General Assembly, but questions remain about how much the efforts would cost and how exactly they would be implemented.
The House Labor and Commerce Committee, which moved the bills forward, is composed of 15 Democrats and seven Republicans.
The bills now head to the full House of Delegates for consideration. Any bills passed there then go to the state Senate and, if passed by that body, to the governor to sign, veto or amend.
Similar bills passed the General Assembly last year, but Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, vetoed them. If passed this year, the Democrat-sponsored bills will land on the desk of newly inaugurated Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger.
A ‘nudge’ for utilities to expand energy-efficiency work
HB 2, from Del. Betsy Carr, D-Richmond, and Del. Mark Sickles, D-Fairfax County, would instruct Dominion Energy and Appalachian Power to help some residents with oil and propane heat transition to energy-efficient electric heat pumps.
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“This bill is narrowly aimed at those of our constituents faced with some of the very highest costs but who can least afford them particularly during these very cold winter months,” Carr said during the committee meeting Thursday.
The bill states that Virginia’s two largest electric utilities should make “best, reasonable efforts” to help at least 30% of qualifying households — or 2,000 households in Appalachian Power’s case, whichever is less — make the switch by the end of 2031.
Qualifying households are single- or multifamily homes occupied by low-income residents who are Dominion or Appalachian customers, rely on heating fuel delivered to their homes, have inefficient heating systems and qualify for energy-efficiency upgrade programs, according to the bill.
The program would not apply to people using natural gas furnaces.
The bill has no penalties if the utilities don’t meet the targets. Carr characterized it as a “nudge,” rather than a mandate, to Dominion and Appalachian to expand their current energy-efficiency work.
Carr said that the equipment upgrade could cut some heating bills by more than half, thanks to the cost of electricity relative to the cost of fuel.
“That high cost is especially felt in Apco’s southwest territory, which has many more old households stuck with these expensive old furnaces,” Carr said.
Del. Israel O’Quinn, R-Washington County, asked if the cost of the upgrade program would be spread among all of the electric utilities’ ratepayers.
Walton Shepherd, the Virginia director of the Natural Resources Defense Council and an advocate for the bill, said the program’s impact on ratepayers is unclear because it would also use an as-yet-unknown amount of state and federal funding.
O’Quinn’s question echoed one raised by House Minority Leader Terry Kilgore, R-Scott County, at a Tuesday subcommittee meeting after Shepherd said that additional revenue to the utilities from customers switching to electric heat would pay for the program.
“So there’s no increase on my bill or my constituents’ bill to pay for this?” Kilgore asked.
Shepherd replied that “there’s no free lunch” and “everyone has to pay somewhere.”
“But because of the net savings to customers that take advantage of that, as well as the additional revenue that goes into the system, it’s a net win-win,” Shepherd replied.
Representatives with Dominion Energy and Appalachian Power told the subcommittee that they are working with Carr toward the utilities supporting the bill.
Mike O’Conner, representing Virginia’s petroleum and propane industries, said he opposes the bill because it is “targeted at Virginia small businesses specifically.”
If the bill becomes law, the program would then require approval from the State Corporation Commission, which regulates utilities in Virginia.
The bill advanced out of committee on a largely party-line vote. All Democrats on the committee favored it, while Del. Wren Williams, R-Patrick County, was the lone Republican to support it.
When Youngkin vetoed a similar bill last year, he said that the SCC “already has the authority to approve energy efficiency and demand side management programs.”
“This bill specifically calls out the use of fuel oils and converting from those units to more electric equipment, potentially restricting consumer energy choice,” Youngkin said in his veto explanation.
Reducing barriers to energy-efficiency programs
HB 3, from Del. Destiny LeVere Bolling, D-Henrico County, directs the state’s Department of Housing and Community Development, along with the state departments of energy and social services, to create a task force to identify what factors might be keeping people from enrolling in energy efficiency and weatherization programs.
Such programs can help Virginians obtain newer appliances such as heat pumps and water heaters, or make insulation improvements such as upgrading windows and doors, ultimately lowering their energy bills.
“Across Virginia we know too many families are experiencing an energy burden that forces impossible choices, between keeping the lights on, buying groceries and paying for medication,” Bolling said during the subcommittee meeting on Tuesday.
But problems such as “fragmented” programs with long wait times can make the situation more difficult for these families, she said.
Bolling’s bill also directs the departments to find better ways to coordinate state, federal and utility resources to deliver such programs.
It requires the task force to submit a report by Sept. 30, 2027, with a plan “to ensure that weatherization-ready repairs and whole-home energy efficiency retrofits are provided to all eligible income-qualified individuals and households in the Commonwealth residing in multifamily buildings, single-family dwellings, and manufactured homes” by the end of 2034.
At Tuesday’s subcommittee meeting, representatives with Dominion, Appalachian Power, the state homebuilders association and a number of environmental groups said they support the bill. Nobody spoke against it.
“Energy efficiency and weatherization is critical in our service territory, especially the farther you go into Appalachia,” said Appalachian Power representative Amanda Cox.
Asked about the expense of implementing the task force, Bolling said that the Department of Housing and Community Development would be able to absorb the cost.
The House committee advanced the bill on a vote of 19-2, with Del. Chris Runion, R-Rockingham County, and Del. Tony Wilt, R-Rockingham County, opposed. Youngkin’s veto explanation of a similar bill last year said that the agencies in question already meet to discuss coordinating resources, making a task force unnecessary.