By Joe Dashiell | Posted: Mon 9:29 PM, Jan 14, 2019
RICHMOND, Va. (WDBJ7) Roanoke Delegate Sam Rasoul has introduced legislation he says will return hundreds of millions of dollars to the ratepayers of Virginia utilities.
Rasoul and other supporters outlined the bill they are calling the REFUND Act (HB 2645), during a news conference Monday in Richmond.
The proposal would require refunds for non-essential spending such as lobbying and political
contributions, end a rate freeze approved by the General Assembly and put a cap on overcharges and excessive profits.
"This legislation is needed because ratepayers are paying too much, utility bills are too high," Rasoul told WDBJ7. "We need to be protecting ratepayers from monopolies who are overcharging on our electric bills."
A spokesperson for Dominion Energy said customers never pay for lobbying or political contributions. And he noted that Dominion's average bill is 20 percent below the national average.
Following is the complete statement
:
“Let’s be clear, our customers never pay for our lobbying, political contributions or most of our advertising. And they are getting a great value on their power bills and have been for years. At around $116 a month our average bill is more than 20 percent below the national average and 30 percent below the mid-Atlantic/northeast average. In fact, our customers pay $330 less a year than they would in Maryland and $260 less than they would in DC. Our customers are also receiving $13 off their bills this month due to the Grid Transformation & Security Act of 2018, which is also boosting renewables and energy-efficiency efforts.”
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