SB 1485 Virginia Senate · 2025 Regular Session

Electric utilities; customer energy choice, customer return to service, subscription cap and queue.

Summary
Electric utilities; customer energy choice; customer return to service; subscription cap and queue. Removes certain restrictions on the ability of individual retail customers of electric energy within the Commonwealth, regardless of customer class, to purchase electric energy matched 100 percent by renewable energy certificates from any supplier of electric energy licensed to sell retail electric energy within the Commonwealth. The bill requires a licensed supplier to match a percentage of each retail electric customer's annual load with renewable energy certificates from within the PJM transmission region. The bill decreases from five years to six months the required written notice period for certain electric energy customers to return to service by an incumbent electric utility after purchasing electric energy from other suppliers. The bill also directs the Commission, by October 1, 2026, to establish a subscription cap allowance for certain utility customers seeking to participate in purchasing electric energy from a licensed supplier. The Commission is required to review the subscription cap allowance every two years starting on January 1, 2028, and electric utilities are required to file their subscription queues with the Commission by January 15, 2027, and annually thereafter. The bill contains an exception to the subscription cap allowance for customers seeking to expand usage at an existing or new facility. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2026, unless the rules and regulations of the Commission promulgated pursuant to the bill specify a commencement date.
Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared
Introduction
Jan 2025
Committee Review
Floor Vote
Governor
Introduced Jan 17, 2025 Last action Jan 27, 2025
Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Introduced Commerce and Labor Substitute · 5 edits
MODERATE
This bill was amended from its original introduction to a committee substitute version, primarily updating formatting, dates, and specific technical details regarding renewable energy requirements and customer protections. The changes refine when certain rules take effect, clarify renewable energy certificate definitions, and adjust timelines for implementing retail electricity competition programs.
Scope change
The bill's scope remains focused on regulating retail electricity competition in Virginia, but specific dates and technical requirements have been updated to reflect committee amendments.
TIMELINE

Effective dates were updated from 2025 to 2026 for most provisions, and some dates were changed from 2002 to 2027 for queue establishment requirements.

DEFINITION

Renewable energy certificate definitions were expanded to exclude certain sources like biomass, waste heat, landfill gas, and municipal solid waste.

REQUIREMENT

Renewable energy matching requirements were updated to apply only to contracts signed after July 1, 2025, with specific exclusions for certain energy sources.

TECHNICAL

Formatting and layout were significantly changed to reflect standard legislative amendment formatting with line numbers and committee markings.

ENFORCEMENT

Commission authority to set subscription caps and manage customer queues was retained with updated implementation timelines.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
4
Key actions
0
Committee
1
Jan 17, 2025
Committee
Referred to Committee on Commerce and Labor
upper
Jan 17, 2025
Introduced
Presented and ordered printed 25104453D
upper
1 primary · 0 co-sponsors

Sponsors

Role
Legislator
Party
State
District
P
Photo of Kannan Srinivasan
Kannan Srinivasan
DDemocratic
VA
32