New Report: Dominion Power One of Worst Utilities in America on Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency

I know this will come as a shock to Blue Virginia readers — ok, no it wont, LOL! — but a new report finds that Dominion Virginia Power richly deserves the motto we’ve given it, “Global Warming Starts Here.” Check out this new report (“Benchmarking Utility Clean Energy Deployment: 2016; Ranking 30 of the largest U.S. investor-owned electric utilities on renewable energy & energy efficiency”) for the gory details. For now, check out the tables below, and specifically note where Dominion ranks (hint: you might want to scan towards the bottom).

First, Figure 10 shows Renewable Energy Sales as a Percentage of Retail Sales among the 30 largest investor-owned electric utilities in the U.S. Clocking in at #23 — woohoo! – is our friend Dominion, with a pathetic 2.18%. And no, this is NOT because Virginia lacks renewable energy resources — sun, wind, etc. — but because Dominion, and its bought-and-paid-for puppets in the Virginia General Assembly, have done everything they could to block clean energy growth in our state. Criminal, really. Definitely corrupt.

Now, let’s check out how Dominion’s doing when it comes to the cheapest form of energy with the biggest “bang for the buck” of any energy resource — efficiency. Again, you’ll want to scan towards the bottom of this table, as Dominion ranks DEAD LAST among the top 30 U.S. investor-owned utilities. To say this is appalling is actually an understatement. And again, it’s the result of a massively corrupt system here in Virginia, in which Dominion has basically bought our legislature and “captured” our regulatory agencies in order to maximize their own profits and maintain their antiquated, planet-killing business model.

Finally, another major Dominion Power #FAIL when it comes to energy efficiency, with our favorite company ranking #29 on “dstimated savings from all energy efficiency programs put in place during the reporting year, including reporting year savings and all future anticipated savings.”  Again, outrageous and (should be) completely unacceptable.

So, again, if you ever wonder why we constantly mock this horrible company, say that its slogan should be “Global Warming Starts Here,” etc., hopefully this information helps answer your question(s).

P.S. This report by Ceres notes that “Policy support for clean energy in the U.S. is stronger than ever,” but clearly that is NOT the case in Virginia, thanks in large part to Dominion’s pernicious influence. Ceres also notes that “Some state utility regulators have begun actively exploring new regulatory models to enable new utility business models,” but again, not here in Virginia. Finally, as Ceres points out, “Top-performing utilities on renewable energy and energy efficiency are located almost entirely in states with more ambitious clean energy policy goals such as California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, and Oregon, while utilities with poor results are typically in states with weak policies, many of them being in the Southeast.” Again, thanks a LOT Dominion!