David Essah, director of public utility regulation at the State Corporation Commission, far right, presents to the Commission on Electric Utility Regulation in 2023. (Charlie Paullin/Virginia Mercury).
Virginia’s commission tasked with reviewing energy-related legislative proposals now has an executive director, after announcing the hiring of a Virginia Department of Energy member to fill the position.
Carrie Hearne, of Richmond, will begin as executive director of the Commission on Electric Utility Regulation next month. She will take the role after five years at Virginia Energy, where she was the director of affordability and competitiveness.
“This is a pivotal time for the clean energy transition in Virginia, all while electricity demand is growing,” Hearne said in a statement. “The policy and regulatory landscape has a tremendous impact on whether and how energy projects get deployed across Virginia to ensure a reliable, affordable and clean energy system.”
Sen. Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax — the commission’s chair who reinvigorated it through legislation in 2023 following years of dormancy — noted Hearne’s experience working for the state under both Democratic and Republican administrations.
“From load growth and energy demand to decarbonization and grid modernization, Virginia faces a string of energy challenges over the coming years that must be faced,” said Surovell in the statement. “Carrie brings a wealth of public- and private-sector energy policy experience.”
The Commission on Electric Utility Regulation, or CEUR, reviews requests to change Virginia’s energy laws and regulations.
Currently, Virginia’s most comprehensive law regarding electricity generation from the state’s two largest utilities, Dominion Energy and Appalachian Power Company, is the Virginia Clean Economy Act, which passed under Democratic control in 2020 and seeks to decarbonize the electric grid by 2050.
Since passage of the VCEA, which sets targets for increasing electricity generation from renewable sources like solar and wind, several legislators have introduced measures to change electric utility laws and regulations. Those efforts haven’t made it through the legislative process.
The proposed changes included a bill this past session from Sen. Schuyler VanValkenburg, D-Henrico, to require localities to consider proposals to convert land to solar use, so long as the land covered by panels took up no more than 4% of the locality’s total land. But members of the House of Delegates Committee on Counties, Cities and Towns subcommittee voted to continue the legislation to 2025 with a request for the CEUR to review it further because of the land use implications it may have had for localities.
Other proposals sent to the CEUR in recent years included an option to have Dominion procure its next required amount of offshore wind electricity from a third party, a bill that advocates said can reduce costs. The utility, however, said it strayed away from the current regulated oversight, which is now being used for the $9.8 Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project off the coast of Virginia Beach.
The CEUR is also charged with creating ratepayer impact statements, reviewing Dominion’s and Appalachian Power’s Integrated Resource Plans — the non-binding long-term planning documents for future investments by the utilities — as well as receiving updates from the State Corporation Commission, which oversees Virginia’s utilities.
In December, the CEUR heard a presentation from the U.S. Department of Energy on loans to fund clean energy energy projects should the state establish a State Energy Financing Institution, a program that would’ve been created by legislation from Surovell this session that was vetoed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin. The governor had released his energy plan in 2022 calling for continued use of natural gas and new forms of nuclear energy.
Glenn Davis, a former legislator chosen by Youngkin to be the director of Virginia Department of Energy, said Hearne was “instrumental” in the state receiving an “unprecedented amount of federal grant dollars,” including $156 million under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Solar for All program.
“She is a strong choice for executive director of CEUR and I look forward to working with her in her new role,” Davis said.
Tarah Kesterson, a spokeswoman for Virginia Energy, said the agency will “very soon” be advertising on their website and social media the vacancy Hearne’s hiring creates.
“It’s a crucial role to our state energy office and the agency,” Kesterson said.
Another recent addition to the commission is Josephus Allmond, a staff attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center. Allmond joins Cassidy Rasnick and Howard Shafferman as the other citizen members who sit on the board alongside the legislative members.
The post Executive director named for Virginia Commission on Electric Utility Regulation appeared first on Virginia Mercury.