An Act to amend the Code of Virginia by adding a section numbered 56-579.1, relating to electric utilities and licensed suppliers of electricity; regional transmission entities; annual report.
HB84 adds a new section to the Virginia Code requiring certain investor-owned electric utilities and licensed electricity suppliers that participate in a regional transmission entity to file an annual report with the State Corporation Commission. The report must list recorded votes cast by the utility, supplier, or their affiliates at meetings of the regional transmission entity during the prior calendar year, including votes that may not otherwise be publicly disclosed. For each recorded vote, the filer must also provide a brief explanation, 20 to 100 words, describing how the vote serves the public interest.
The bill defines key terms such as “affiliate,” “licensed supplier,” “meeting,” “recorded vote,” and “regional transmission entity,” and it specifically identifies PJM Interconnection, LLC as the regional transmission entity covered by the statute. The reporting deadline is February 1 each year, and the Commission is authorized to request additional information about recorded votes in any applicable proceeding.
The bill creates a new reporting obligation in Title 56 for investor-owned electric utilities and licensed suppliers of electricity that participate in PJM, increasing transparency around their participation in regional transmission organization decision-making. It requires disclosure not only of the utility’s own votes, but also certain affiliate votes when the utility itself did not vote, and it gives the State Corporation Commission a basis to seek further information. The statute does not apply to municipal electric utilities or to entities organized under Chapter 9.1 of Title 56, or their affiliates and subsidiaries.
The available record shows no committee transcript or recorded vote data indicating opposition or support, so the bill’s sentiment cannot be measured from debate history here. Based on the structure of the measure, it appears to have been treated as a transparency and accountability bill for electric utility participation in regional transmission governance, and it was ultimately enacted as Chapter 557. The absence of recorded controversy in the provided materials suggests the bill moved without documented public dispute in this dataset.
The main substantive issue raised by the text is the scope of disclosure: utilities and licensed suppliers must report recorded votes by both themselves and, in some cases, their affiliates, even when those votes are not otherwise disclosed. That requirement could be viewed as burdensome by regulated utilities or as necessary transparency by consumer advocates and policymakers. Another point of distinction is the bill’s carve-outs for municipal utilities and Chapter 9.1 entities, which limits the reporting mandate to investor-owned utilities and licensed suppliers participating in PJM.