Republican attacks on the energy transition failed Of the roughly 60 bills I followed this session, only a handful made it to the governor’s desk. Senate Democrats ably protected the energy transition framework established in 20, but modest efforts to accelerate the transition mostly failed. These are the standout takeaways from a legislative session in which, otherwise, few significant energy bills emerged from the scrum. As one lobbyist put it: “Amazon is the new Dominion.” Many legislators may still not have caught on, but the corps of lobbyists who haunt the hallways of the General Assembly building know a 500-pound gorilla when they see one. Less noticed was the rise to political power of one of Dominion’s largest customers, Amazon Web Services. Youngkin and boosters of small modular reactors (SMRs) expected a lot more love, and incentives, than legislators proved willing to dole out this early in the technology’s development. By contrast, a bill to return authority over rates to the State Corporation Commission garnered overwhelming support.Īnother surprise loser was the nuclear industry. The utility’s all-out campaign to boost its return on equity earned it little more than crumbs. For followers of Virginia energy policy, 2023 will be remembered as the year Dominion Energy lost its stranglehold on the General Assembly.
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