Virginia Gov. Youngkin guts energy affordability measures passed by the General Assembly and plays politics with Virginia’s energy security 

RICHMOND, VA – Last night, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin introduced poison pill amendments designed to gut several key pieces of legislation the General Assembly passed to bring down costs for Virginia families and businesses.

“Earlier this year, leaders in the General Assembly put forward impactful legislation to expand the role of homes and businesses in the clean energy transition and to allow these projects to help keep the lights on and lower energy bills. Virginia needs leaders who take the job of policymaking seriously and use the positions they have been entrusted with to address the challenges faced by their constituents and the Commonwealth as whole. Rather than taking the opportunity to lead by signing these bills into law, Governor Youngkin instead took the opportunity to engage in partisan politics,” said United Virginia Policy Lead and Legislative Director Jim Purekal. 

The Distributed Generation Expansion Act, HB 1883, a bill to increase the capacity of small-scale renewable projects identified within the Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA), passed the General Assembly with broad bipartisan support. As crafted, the legislation would make the electric grid more resilient and less susceptible to a single point of failure, helping to keep the lights on for all Virginians. Last night, the bill was amended to dramatically weaken the VCEA and state renewable portfolio standard, giving the utilities an off ramp to avoid compliance.  

The Community Energy Act, HB 2346, would have launched a first-of-its-kind voluntary Virtual Power Plant (VPP) pilot program by allowing small scale projects to coordinate and keep the lights on while the grid is strained, lowering costs for all ratepayers. The bill was amended to eliminate the pilot program and instead mandates a study with no timeline or plan of action to help Virginians.  

In addition to dismantling these cost-saving measures, the Governor put poison pills in incentives for long-term energy storage. Tellingly, his amendment doesn’t address the storage legislation itself and instead pushes to repeal Virginia’s Renewable Portfolio Standard entirely, another backdoor attempt to repeal the VCEA. 

“To say we are disappointed is an understatement. We hope the General Assembly will reject these amendments, and we call upon lawmakers to continue pushing for meaningful energy reform that helps the state meet demand while allowing ratepayers to keep more money in their pockets.” said Purekal.