Spanberger Signs Bills to Aid Low-Income Utility Customers, Manage Power Demand

Gov. Abigail Spanberger on Wednesday announced she signed another slate of bipartisan bills as part of her affordability agenda, just days before her Monday action deadline. The latest tranche of legislation set to become law focused on health, housing, and ratepayer protections.

Utility costs have skyrocketed in the state, and power demand is strained by energy-intensive data centers, state research and legislators have said. Lawmakers sought to stem these challenges, and state budget deliberations continue as Virginia Senate and House negotiators debate ending a data center tax exemption that could net the state over $1 billion annually.

Gov. Abigail Spanberger addresses the media outside of the governor’s mansion in Richmond on April 8, 2026. (Photo by Shannon Heckt/Virginia Mercury)

“I am signing this legislation into law to help deliver relief for families in communities across the Commonwealth,” Spanberger said in a statement. “Virginians deserve results when it comes to contending with the high cost of living.”

Spanberger signs first wave of bills targeting health care, housing and energy cost

Here are the key energy bills that the governor signed into law.

Power demand flexibility

House Bill 284, sponsored by Del. Michael Feggans, D-Virginia Beach, and Senate Bill 371 by Sen. Jeremy McPike, D-Prince William, direct Dominion Energy and Appalachian Power Company to create a voluntary demand flexibility program for high-load customers.

Under the new measure, customers who use more than 25 megawatts can opt in to a program that asks high-load users to consider geographical or spatial shifting, dynamic voltage and frequency scaling, energy storage, or the purchase of energy credits from other users.

These practices could boost grid reliability on high energy demand days, a boon for ratepayers. The goal is also to help prevent utilities from having to build as much expensive energy infrastructure and meet demand with what is currently available.

Dominion and ApCo must file a petition for their flexibility programs with the State Cooperation Commission by January 2027. Electric cooperatives serving high-load customers must create one of these programs by January 2029.

The bill does not require the participants in these programs to be kicked off the power grid or to curtail their energy use during these peak hours to help with grid reliability.

It will be up to the SCC to determine the best action for the program, and regulators could implement different standards for high-load users that come online in July of this year.

Utility rates, disconnections for low-income customers

HB 770 by Del. Charniele Herring, D-Alexandria, and SB 650 by Sen. David Marsden, D-Fairfax, allow water and sewage companies to offer discounted rates for customers who make less than 200% of the federal poverty level.

The bills also permit companies to recover the cost of those discounts through their base and general rates for all other customers, subject to SCC approval.

Similarly, HB 1144, sponsored by Del. Marty Martinez, D-Loudoun, allows localities to pass an ordinance that waives water and sewer connection fees, availability fees, and capital recovery costs for first-time homebuyers. The ordinances will specify who qualifies and the waiver program’s limitations.

HB 242, sponsored by Del. Joshua Cole, D-Fredericksburg, prevents public utilities from raising rates more than once a year on customers who are enrolled in a budget plan – unless they provide a 60-day notice.

If a customer is unable to pay their bill, HB 1002, by Del. Kathy Tran, D-Fairfax, protects them from being disconnected from their service unless the utility has made an effort to educate them about bill assistance programs, payment programs and energy saving programs to help offset their costs.

Solar for public buildings

SB 659 by Sen. Christie New Craig, R-Chesapeake, and HB 683, sponsored by Herring, establishes the Solar Interconnection Grant Program for one year. The grant funding will be able to go towards  solar panel installation on public structures like schools and municipal buildings, to help offset utility costs.

Entities must apply for the funding to cover the cost of connecting to the grid.

The program was allocated $2 million in a house budget amendment, but it is not set in stone, as the General Assembly has not yet passed a budget. Lawmakers are set to return to Richmond on April 23 for the special session to finalize the budget and send it to the governor’s desk before the end of the fiscal year, July 1, when the state’s current spending plan will lapse.

by Shannon Heckt, Virginia Mercury

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