Dominion bills would decrease under settlement

[Blue_Tires]

Dominion Virginia Power's bill for a typical residential customer would go down 8.9 percent under a proposed settlement to Dominion's pending base rate case.

Under the terms of the settlement announced this morning, the monthly bill for a typical residential customer would be $99.07 for the remainder of 2010, compared with a bill of $108.73 for the same customer in March 2009 when Dominion first sought a base rate increase and other rate changes.

The State Corporation Commission would have to approve the settlement before it goes into effect.

The lower monthly bill would not include the effect of the company's proposed energy conservation programs pending before the SCC. Those conservation measures would, if approved, add less than $1 a month to the typical residential customer's bill.

Dominion said it reached the agreement with the SCC's staff, the state Attorney General's Office, the Virginia Committee for Fair Utility Rates, the Navy and other parties to an earlier proposed settlement to the case.

In the proposed agreement, the company's authorized return on equity for its base rates would be set at 11.9 percent. Dominion Virginia Power's base rates would not change from those in effect before the company filed for the rate increase last spring.

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/business/local/article/DOMIGAT26_20100226-095201/327013/