Virginia Commission discourages citizen participation in Energy Efficency Workshop

The Commonwealth of Virginia's State Corporation Commission makes it very easy for energy companies and the rich and powerful to participate in thier workshops. All they have to do is file their intention to participate via electronic filing. Not so for citizens. We'll have to file a paper copy with the Commission; no faxes are allowed. It also looks like the deadline for receipt of your filing is tomorrow. Read what you can do about it.

I have just learned that the State Corporation Commission in Virginia is convening a working group on Energy Efficiency. This is commendable, considering customers have been denied any choice by anti-consumer legislation that returns them to a regulated (read ineffiecient) utility model.

But, I have also discovered that in order to participate, you must file your intention with the clerk's office. In one more anti consumer move, electronic filing is ONLY AVAILABLE to lawyers, law firms, and companies.

REAL People, those who actually pay the bills, must file a hard copy (no faxes allowed). This, of course, makes it difficult and expensive for consumers and the non-profits who represent them to participate. But, in a state where well funded special interests rule, I guess this is to be expected. Not exactly my interpretation of democracy.

How can this be changed? Contact Governor Tim Kaine and give him a piece of your mind on this issue. The Commonwealth of Virginia has a reputation for being a leader in electronic government and the SCC needs to get with the program. Also contact the Clerks Office in Virginia and request and extension.

Nora

Comments

[Debra Jacobson]

I strongly share Nora's concern about the limitation of electronic filing to companies and lawyers. Why should an individual ratepayer (who often learns about a regulatory proceeding at the last minute) have to pay $20 or more to send a filing to the SCC when well-funded electric utility companies and their attorneys can file their briefs over the Internet?

According to the SCC's web site (http://www.scc.virginia.gov/division/clk/docfile.htm), their electronic filing program is an "experimental" pilot program. However, this so-called experimental program has been in effect for more than a year -- if not more.

So several questions arise: (1) Why wasn't the pilot program extended to the "general public" in the first place? (2) If the SCC has continued this so-called experimental program for more than a year, the SCC must have found it to be it successful, and it seems long overdue to extend the program to the public at large!

Debra Jacobson
Professorial Lecturer in Energy Law, The George Washington University Law School