No one seems to have followed our advice. Although we warned that the temptation is to read too much into elections rather than too little, national experts of all inclinations have discerned transcendental meaning in Virginia’s 2009 results. Although the outcome represented a major triumph for Bob McDonnell and the GOP, low-turnout elections tend not to be watersheds. Although the turnout—the worst in a gubernatorial election since the rise of two-party politics in Virginia—may have serious implications for future races, it seems unlikely to indicate partisan or ideological realignment.

Dominion Virginia Power customers would get back more than $400 million from the company under an agreement the state’s largest utility has reached with the state attorney general’s office and a group of large ratepayers. If approved by the State Corporation Commission, the proposed settlement of several pending Dominion Virginia Power rate cases would save a typical residential customer—using 1,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity a month—about $80 next year, the company said.

The Virginia Supreme Court ruled yesterday that the State Corporation Commission properly approved the Virginia section of a multistate power line. The Piedmont Environmental Council, the boards of supervisors for Fauquier, Prince William and Culpeper counties, and some property owners challenged the 2008 SCC approval sought by Dominion Virginia Power and the Trans-Allegheny Interstate Line Company.

Virginia’s attorney general is urging the State Corporation Commission to either cut Dominion Virginia Power’s electric rates this year or have the company give customers a refund for over-earning last year. Experts for Attorney General Bill Mims’ office told the SCC that Dominion Virginia Power’s rates should be reduced by $238 million or customers should receive a refund of $153 million.

Sharp drops in the price of natural gas and other fuels boosted Dominion Resources Inc.‘s profit for the third quarter.

Copeland and Christoph Casati love their midcentury modern home in western Henrico County. They love the architecture, the layout, the gorgeous design. They hate the heating bills. “We are paying thousands of dollars a winter to heat this house,“ Copeland Casati said. Worse, she said, “it’s never comfortable, never cozy.“ The Casatis, her husband said, declared war on their heating bill.

When Rappahannock Electric Cooperative and Appalachian Power subscribers buy into those utilities’ green-power programs, all the money goes to purchase renewable-energy certificates. Dominion Virginia Power says half of the price its customers pay to participate in its green-power program, the state’s largest, is used to cover administrative costs.

Opponents of a multistate power line that would run through northern Virginia are asking the Virginia Supreme Court to send the project back to state regulators for further deliberations.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission says an excessive discharge of oil and grease was detected at Dominion Virginia Power’s Surry nuclear power station. The NRC said the excessive discharge was contained in a sample tested Aug. 11 by Dominion Virginia Power. Sample results were returned Thursday, and the Richmond-based utility notified the NRC later in the day.

Thanks to decreasing fuel costs, Dominion Virginia Power customers could be in for a break on their electricity bills. Dominion Virginia Power has asked the State Corporation Commission for permission to roll back its fuel charges by $2.19 a month for a typical residential customer starting Oct. 1. The proposed decrease, and a $3.64-a-month reduction in the fuel rate put in place July 1, should take much of the sting out of other rate increases that took effect Tuesday.

A demonstration project to remove carbon dioxide from coal-fired smokestack emissions has been proposed for a controversial power plant under construction in far Southwest Virginia.

Dominion Virginia Power got a little ahead of itself in its Bear Garden plant rate case. “Any information provided by Dominion’s representatives that suggested a stipulation or settlement was in place concerning the Bear Garden facility was in error,“ the utility company said in a statement yesterday. Dominion Virginia Power representatives had said Tuesday that the utility had reached a tentative agreement with state regulators on a rate increase to pay for the natural-gas-fired power plant in Buckingham County.

A typical Dominion Virginia Power residential customer’s bill will go up by $2.98 a month in January to cover the cost of building two power plants, under a tentative agreement between the utility and state regulators. Dominion Virginia Power subscribers will see the additional costs to construct the Virginia City power station in Wise County and the Bear Garden plant in Buckingham County in their bills starting Jan. 1.

A Richmond judge says a state permit for a coal-burning power plant in Wise County did not adequately limit mercury pollution. Circuit Judge Margaret P. Spencer said the state Air Pollution Control Board erred in issuing the permit for the $1.8 billion Dominion Virginia Power plant. The ruling, released yesterday, means the board must craft a revised permit for the plant.

Judge Margaret P. Spencer said the state Air Pollution Control Board erred in not setting a firm limit for mercury emissions from the $1.8 billion Dominion Virginia Power plant.