Dominion customers to pay more than a billion for gas backup facility 

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.  — On Monday, the Virginia State Corporation Commission approved Dominion Energy’s application to spend about $550 million—and charge customers $1 billion to $1.5 billion over the long-term—to build a liquified natural gas (LNG) facility that will hold four days of backup fuel for two gas-fired power plants.  

At the hearing in late 2024, the Southern Environmental Law Center, on behalf of Appalachian Voices, raised concerns that the facility’s benefits were too speculative to justify an investment of this magnitude, as did several other parties. SELC and Appalachian Voices raised additional concerns about the utility’s proposal, including that Dominion had not articulated a need, did not evaluate feasible alternatives, failed to consider impacts to nearby communities from additional fossil fuel infrastructure, and failed to explain adequately why the project was more expensive than comparable LNG facilities. 

Natural gas is a fossil fuel made of methane, a dangerous pollutant that causes climate change. It is also a commodity subject to staggering price volatility, and Dominion required its customers to pay more than a billion dollars in unexpected fuel costs in 2022 and again in 2023. Another long-term investment in methane gas means more financial risk for consumers.  

Peter Anderson, Director of State Energy Policy at Appalachian Voices, expressed disappointment at the approval of Dominion’s project.  

“This is not the time for Virginia utilities to spend their customers’ money on large new fossil fuel infrastructure projects. Not only can clean technologies like large-scale batteries provide real reliability benefits, but to comply with the law and meet our climate goals this expensive project may soon become a stranded asset,” Anderson said. 

In response to critiques at the hearing, Dominion put forth familiar reliability arguments that are often cited by utilities, including that it needed access to more gas at its Brunswick and Greensville power plants to avoid fuel and power shortages during extreme weather. However, the primary cause of gas plant outages in other states during such weather events has been mechanical failures, which this massive investment will not prevent.  

“The two power plants that this facility will serve are both less than a decade old, each with more than a billion-dollar price tag,” SELC senior attorney Grayson Holmes said. “Even though customers are still paying off these expensive power plants, already Dominion is coming back and asking customers for another billion to run the plants. This is another example of the hidden costs and risks of gas—risks that customers will be vulnerable to for years to come.”