Electric bills going up Sept. 1

Dominion Virginia Power customer bills will increase Sept. 1 to pay for the company's use of the regional electric transmission system.

The State Corporation Commission approved a new surcharge that will boost a typical residential customer's bill by $1.20 a month.

The electricity company had originally sought a rate increase from the commission that worked out to $1.26 a month for the typical residential subscriber.

But Dominion Virginia Power agreed to remove about $9.5 million in administrative charges, which the commission staff said were not specifically related to transmission service, from its transmission-rate request.

Dominion Virginia Power intends to seek to recover the $9.5 million by modifying its proposed base-rate increase, which the SCC will consider this fall, utility spokesman Chet Wade said.

The transmission surcharge allows the company to recover the federally approved wholesale rates that Dominion Virginia Power pays to the coordinator of the regional transmission grid, PJM Interconnection.

PJM Interconnection handles movements of wholesale electricity in 13 states and the District of Columbia, managing the high-voltage electricity grid that provides service to more than 51 million people in the region.

Called "Rider T," the surcharge approved by the commission and announced yesterday will generate $217.8 million in revenue for Dominion Virginia Power in the next 12 months.

In May, the utility filed a series of five rate requests with the SCC, including one for the first increase in its base rate in 17 years.

Dominion Virginia Power will have to recalculate the ultimate impact from the changes to the transmission surcharge made by the SCC, the company said.

But the utility said the net result of its requests, if the SCC agrees, should be about a 6.8 percent increase -- or $7.35 a month -- in the bills of residential customers using 1,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity a month.

Dominion Virginia Power is asking for the rate increases to pay for building power plants, substations and power lines needed for the state's economy, and to establish energy conservation programs.

The company is Virginia's largest electrical utility, serving 2.3 million customers.

Contact Peter Bacqué at (804) 649-6813 or .