{"formats":[{"name":"JSON","format":"json","url":"\/downloads\/2025\/code-json\/56-576.json"},{"name":"Plain Text","format":"text","url":"\/downloads\/2025\/code-text\/56-576.txt"},{"name":"XML","format":"xml","url":"\/downloads\/2025\/code-xml\/56-576.xml"},{"name":"HTML","format":"html","url":"\/downloads\/2025\/code-html\/56-576.html"}],"law_id":62210,"edition_id":1,"section_id":62210,"structure_id":13084,"section_number":"56-576","catch_line":"Definitions","history":"1999, c. 411; 2000, c. 991; 2001, c. 421; 2007, cc. 888, 933; 2008, cc. 272, 883; 2009, cc. 748, 824; 2012, cc. 46, 200, 210, 821; 2013, c. 494; 2014, cc. 212, 548; 2018, c. 296; 2019, cc. 535, 741; 2020, cc. 1193, 1194, 1225; 2021, Sp. Sess. I, cc. 308, 532; 2022, c. 216; 2024, cc. 597, 607, 794, 818, 607, 794, 818; 2025, c. 714.","full_text":"As used in this chapter:\n\t\t“Affiliate” means any person that controls, is controlled by, or is under common control with an electric utility.\n\t\t“Aggregator” means a person that, as an agent or intermediary, (i) offers to purchase, or purchases, electric energy or (ii) offers to arrange for, or arranges for, the purchase of electric energy, for sale to, or on behalf of, two or more retail customers not controlled by or under common control with such person. The following activities shall not, in and of themselves, make a person an aggregator under this chapter: (i) furnishing legal services to two or more retail customers, suppliers or aggregators; (ii) furnishing educational, informational, or analytical services to two or more retail customers, unless direct or indirect compensation for such services is paid by an aggregator or supplier of electric energy; (iii) furnishing educational, informational, or analytical services to two or more suppliers or aggregators; (iv) providing default service under \u00a7 56-585; (v) engaging in activities of a retail electric energy supplier, licensed pursuant to \u00a7 56-587, which are authorized by such supplier’s license; and (vi) engaging in actions of a retail customer, in common with one or more other such retail customers, to issue a request for proposal or to negotiate a purchase of electric energy for consumption by such retail customers.\n\t\t“Business park” means a land development containing a minimum of 100 contiguous acres classified as a Tier 4 site under the Virginia Economic Development Partnership’s Business Ready Sites Program that is developed and constructed by a locality, an industrial development authority, or a similar political subdivision of the Commonwealth created pursuant to \u00a7 15.2-4903 or other act of the General Assembly, in order to promote business development.\n\t\t“Combined heat and power” means a method of using waste heat from electrical generation to offset traditional processes, space heating, air conditioning, or refrigeration.\n\t\t“Commission” means the State Corporation Commission.\n\t\t“Community in which a majority of the population are people of color” means a U.S. Census tract where more than 50 percent of the population comprises individuals who identify as belonging to one or more of the following groups: Black, African American, Asian, Pacific Islander, Native American, other non-white race, mixed race, Hispanic, Latino, or linguistically isolated.\n\t\t“Cooperative” means a utility formed under or subject to Chapter 9.1 (\u00a7 56-231.15 et seq.).\n\t\t“Covered entity” means a provider in the Commonwealth of an electric service not subject to competition but does not include default service providers.\n\t\t“Covered transaction” means an acquisition, merger, or consolidation of, or other transaction involving stock, securities, voting interests or assets by which one or more persons obtains control of a covered entity.\n\t\t“Curtailment” means inducing retail customers to reduce load during times of peak demand so as to ease the burden on the electrical grid.\n\t\t“Customer choice” means the opportunity for a retail customer in the Commonwealth to purchase electric energy from any supplier licensed and seeking to sell electric energy to that customer.\n\t\t“Demand response” means measures aimed at shifting time of use of electricity from peak-use periods to times of lower demand by inducing retail customers to curtail electricity usage during periods of congestion and higher prices in the electrical grid.\n\t\t“Distribute,”\"distributing,” or “distribution of” electric energy means the transfer of electric energy through a retail distribution system to a retail customer.\n\t\t“Distributor” means a person owning, controlling, or operating a retail distribution system to provide electric energy directly to retail customers.\n\t\t“Electric distribution grid transformation project” means a project associated with electric distribution infrastructure, including related data analytics equipment, that is designed to accommodate or facilitate the integration of utility-owned or customer-owned renewable electric generation resources with the utility’s electric distribution grid or to otherwise enhance electric distribution grid reliability, electric distribution grid security, customer service, or energy efficiency and conservation, including advanced metering infrastructure; intelligent grid devices for real time system and asset information; automated control systems for electric distribution circuits and substations; communications networks for service meters; intelligent grid devices and other distribution equipment; distribution system hardening projects for circuits, other than the conversion of overhead tap lines to underground service, and substations designed to reduce service outages or service restoration times; physical security measures at key distribution substations; cyber security measures; energy storage systems and microgrids that support circuit-level grid stability, power quality, reliability, or resiliency or provide temporary backup energy supply; electrical facilities and infrastructure necessary to support electric vehicle charging systems; LED street light conversions; and new customer information platforms designed to provide improved customer access, greater service options, and expanded access to energy usage information.\n\t\t“Electric utility” means any person that generates, transmits, or distributes electric energy for use by retail customers in the Commonwealth, including any investor-owned electric utility, cooperative electric utility, or electric utility owned or operated by a municipality.\n\t\t“Electrification” means measures that (i) electrify space heating, water heating, cooling, drying, cooking, industrial processes, and other building and industrial end uses that would otherwise be served by onsite, nonelectric fuels, provided that the electrification measures reduce site energy consumption; (ii) to the maximum extent practical, seek to combine with federally authorized customer rebates for heat pump technology; and (iii) for those measures that provide measurable and verifiable energy savings to low-income customers or elderly customers, to the maximum extent practical, seek to combine with either contemporaneously installed measures or previously installed measures that are or were provided under federally funded weatherization programs or state-provided, locality-provided, or utility-provided energy efficiency programs.\n\t\t“Energy efficiency program” means a program that reduces the total amount of energy that is required for the same process or activity implemented after the expiration of capped rates but does not include electrification of any process or activity primarily fueled by natural gas. Energy efficiency programs include equipment, physical, or program change designed to produce measured and verified reductions in the amount of site energy required to perform the same function and produce the same or a similar outcome. Energy efficiency programs may include (i) electrification; (ii) programs that result in improvements in lighting design, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems, appliances, building envelopes, and industrial and commercial processes; (iii) measures, such as the installation of advanced meters, implemented or installed by utilities, that reduce fuel use or losses of electricity and otherwise improve internal operating efficiency in generation, transmission, and distribution systems; and (iv) customer engagement programs that result in measurable and verifiable energy savings that lead to efficient use patterns and practices. Energy efficiency programs include demand response, combined heat and power and waste heat recovery, curtailment, or other programs that are designed to reduce site energy consumption so long as they reduce the total amount of site energy that is required for the same process or activity. Utilities shall be authorized to install and operate such advanced metering technology and equipment on a customer’s premises; however, nothing in this chapter establishes a requirement that an energy efficiency program be implemented on a customer’s premises and be connected to a customer’s wiring on the customer’s side of the inter-connection without the customer’s expressed consent. Electricity consumption increases that result from Commission-approved electrification measures shall not be considered as a reduction in energy savings under the energy savings requirements set forth in subsection B of \u00a7 56-596.2. Utilities may apply verified total site energy reductions that are attributable to Commission-approved electrification measures to the energy savings requirements set forth in subsection B of \u00a7 56-596.2, subject to a conversion of British thermal unit-based energy savings to an equivalent kilowatt-hour-based energy savings, which conversion shall be subject to Commission approval.\n\t\t“Generate,”\"generating,” or “generation of” electric energy means the production of electric energy.\n\t\t“Generator” means a person owning, controlling, or operating a facility that produces electric energy for sale.\n\t\t“Geothermal electric generating resource” means an electric generating unit that is powered by geothermal energy as defined in \u00a7 45.2-2000.\n\t\t“Geothermal heating and cooling system” means a system that:\n\n1\n\nExchanges thermal energy from groundwater or a shallow ground source to generate thermal energy through an electric geothermal heat pump or a system of electric geothermal heat pumps interconnected with any geothermal extraction facility that is (i) a closed loop or a series of closed loop systems in which fluid is permanently confined within a pipe or tubing and does not come in contact with the outside environment or (ii) an open loop system in which ground or surface water is circulated in an environmentally safe manner directly into the facility and returned to the same aquifer or surface water source;2\n\nMeets or exceeds the current federal Energy Star product specification standards;3\n\nReplaces or displaces less efficient space or water heating systems, regardless of fuel type;4\n\nReplaces or displaces less efficient space cooling systems that do not meet federal Energy Star product specification standards; and5\n\nDoes not feed electricity back to the grid.\n\t\t\t“Historically economically disadvantaged community” means (i) a community in which a majority of the population are people of color or (ii) a low-income geographic area.\n\t\t\t“Incremental annual savings” means the total combined kilowatt-hour savings achieved by electric utility energy efficiency and demand response programs and measures in the program year in which they are installed.\n\t\t\t“Incumbent electric utility” means each electric utility in the Commonwealth that, prior to July 1, 1999, supplied electric energy to retail customers located in an exclusive service territory established by the Commission.\n\t\t\t“Independent system operator” means a person that may receive or has received, by transfer pursuant to this chapter, any ownership or control of, or any responsibility to operate, all or part of the transmission systems in the Commonwealth.\n\t\t\t“In the public interest,” for purposes of assessing energy efficiency programs prior to the 2029 program year, describes an energy efficiency program if the Commission determines that the net present value of the benefits exceeds the net present value of the costs as determined by not less than any three of the following four tests: (i) the Total Resource Cost Test; (ii) the Utility Cost Test (also referred to as the Program Administrator Test); (iii) the Participant Test; and (iv) the Ratepayer Impact Measure Test. Such determination shall include an analysis of all four tests, and a program or portfolio of programs shall be approved if the net present value of the benefits exceeds the net present value of the costs as determined by not less than any three of the four tests. For programs proposed for the 2029 program year and all subsequent years, the Commission shall establish targets pursuant to subdivision B 4 of § 56-596.2, and a program shall be approved if the Commission determines it is cost-effective pursuant to applicable Commission regulations and that the net present value of the benefits exceeds the net present value of the costs as determined by the Total Resource Cost Test. If the Commission determines that an energy efficiency program or portfolio of programs is not in the public interest, its final order shall include all work product and analysis conducted by the Commission’s staff in relation to that program, including testimony relied upon by the Commission’s staff, that has bearing upon the Commission’s decision. If the Commission reduces the proposed budget for a program or portfolio of programs, its final order shall include an analysis of the impact such budget reduction has upon the cost-effectiveness of such program or portfolio of programs. An order by the Commission (a) finding that a program or portfolio of programs is not in the public interest or (b) reducing the proposed budget for any program or portfolio of programs shall adhere to existing protocols for extraordinarily sensitive information. In addition, an energy efficiency program may be deemed to be “in the public interest” if the program (1) provides measurable and verifiable energy savings to low-income customers or elderly customers or (2) is a pilot program of limited scope, cost, and duration, that is intended to determine whether a new or substantially revised program or technology would be cost-effective.\n\t\t\t“Low-income geographic area” means any locality, or community within a locality, that has a median household income that is not greater than 80 percent of the local median household income, or any area in the Commonwealth designated as a qualified opportunity zone by the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury via his delegation of authority to the Internal Revenue Service.\n\t\t\t“Low-income utility customer” means any person or household whose income is no more than 80 percent of the median income of the locality in which the customer resides. The median income of the locality is determined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.\n\t\t\t“Measured and verified” means a process determined pursuant to methods accepted for use by utilities and industries to measure, verify, and validate energy savings and peak demand savings. This may include the protocol established by the United States Department of Energy, Office of Federal Energy Management Programs, Measurement and Verification Guidance for Federal Energy Projects, measurement and verification standards developed by the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), or engineering-based estimates of energy and demand savings associated with specific energy efficiency measures, as determined by the Commission.\n\t\t\t“Municipality” means a city, county, town, authority, or other political subdivision of the Commonwealth.\n\t\t\t“New underground facilities” means facilities to provide underground distribution service. “New underground facilities” includes underground cables with voltages of 69 kilovolts or less, pad-mounted devices, connections at customer meters, and transition terminations from existing overhead distribution sources.\n\t\t\t“Peak-shaving” means measures aimed solely at shifting time of use of electricity from peak-use periods to times of lower demand by inducing retail customers to curtail electricity usage during periods of congestion and higher prices in the electrical grid.\n\t\t\t“Percentage of Income Payment Program (PIPP) eligible utility customer” means any person or household whose income does not exceed 150 percent of the federal poverty level.\n\t\t\t“Person” means any individual, corporation, partnership, association, company, business, trust, joint venture, or other private legal entity, and the Commonwealth or any municipality.\n\t\t\t“Previously developed project site” means any property, including related buffer areas, if any, that has been previously disturbed or developed for non-single-family residential, non-agricultural, or non-silvicultural use, regardless of whether such property currently is being used for any purpose.\n\t\t\t“Previously developed project site” includes a brownfield as defined in § 10.1-1230 or any parcel that has been previously used (i) for a retail, commercial, or industrial purpose; (ii) as a parking lot; (iii) as the site of a parking lot canopy or structure; (iv) for mining, which is any lands affected by coal mining that took place before August 3, 1977, or any lands upon which extraction activities have been permitted by the Department of Energy under Title 45.2; (v) for quarrying; or (vi) as a landfill.\n\t\t\t“Qualified waste heat resource” means (i) exhaust heat or flared gas from an industrial process that does not have, as its primary purpose, the production of electricity and (ii) a pressure drop in any gas for an industrial or commercial process.\n\t\t\t“Renewable energy” means energy derived from sunlight, wind, falling water, biomass, sustainable or otherwise, (the definitions of which shall be liberally construed), energy from waste, landfill gas, municipal solid waste, wave motion, tides, geothermal heating and cooling systems, and geothermal electric generating resources and does not include energy derived from coal, oil, natural gas, or nuclear power. “Renewable energy” also includes the proportion of the thermal or electric energy from a facility that results from the co-firing of biomass. “Renewable energy” does not include waste heat from fossil-fired facilities or electricity generated from pumped storage but includes run-of-river generation from a combined pumped-storage and run-of-river facility.\n\t\t\t“Renewable thermal energy” means the thermal energy output from (i) a renewable-fueled combined heat and power generation facility that is (a) constructed, or renovated and improved, after January 1, 2012, (b) located in the Commonwealth, and (c) utilized in industrial processes other than the combined heat and power generation facility or (ii) a solar energy system, certified to the OG-100 standard of the Solar Ratings and Certification Corporation or an equivalent certification body, that (a) is constructed, or renovated and improved, after January 1, 2013, (b) is located in the Commonwealth, and (c) heats water or air for residential, commercial, institutional, or industrial purposes.\n\t\t\t“Renewable thermal energy equivalent” means the electrical equivalent in megawatt hours of renewable thermal energy calculated by dividing (i) the heat content, measured in British thermal units (BTUs), of the renewable thermal energy at the point of transfer to a residential, commercial, institutional, or industrial process by (ii) the standard conversion factor of 3.413 million BTUs per megawatt hour.\n\t\t\t“Renovated and improved facility” means a facility the components of which have been upgraded to enhance its operating efficiency.\n\t\t\t“Retail customer” means any person that purchases retail electric energy for its own consumption at one or more metering points or nonmetered points of delivery located in the Commonwealth.\n\t\t\t“Retail electric energy” means electric energy sold for ultimate consumption to a retail customer.\n\t\t\t“Revenue reductions related to energy efficiency programs” means reductions in the collection of total non-fuel revenues, previously authorized by the Commission to be recovered from customers by a utility, that occur due to measured and verified decreased consumption of electricity caused by energy efficiency programs approved by the Commission and implemented by the utility, less the amount by which such non-fuel reductions in total revenues have been mitigated through other program-related factors, including reductions in variable operating expenses.\n\t\t\t“Rooftop solar installation” means a distributed electric generation facility, storage facility, or generation and storage facility utilizing energy derived from sunlight, with a rated capacity of not less than 50 kilowatts, that is installed on the roof structure of an incumbent electric utility’s commercial or industrial class customer, including host sites on commercial buildings, multifamily residential buildings, school or university buildings, and buildings of a church or religious body.\n\t\t\t“Solar energy system” means a system of components that produces heat or electricity, or both, from sunlight.\n\t\t\t“Supplier” means any generator, distributor, aggregator, broker, marketer, or other person who offers to sell or sells electric energy to retail customers and is licensed by the Commission to do so, but it does not mean a generator that produces electric energy exclusively for its own consumption or the consumption of an affiliate.\n\t\t\t“Supply” or “supplying” electric energy means the sale of or the offer to sell electric energy to a retail customer.\n\t\t\t“Total annual energy savings” means (i) the total combined kilowatt-hour savings achieved by electric utility energy efficiency and demand response programs and measures installed in that program year, as well as savings still being achieved by measures and programs implemented in prior years, or (ii) savings attributable to newly installed combined heat and power facilities, including waste heat-to-power facilities, and any associated reduction in transmission line losses, provided that biomass is not a fuel and the total efficiency, including the use of thermal energy, for eligible combined heat and power facilitates must meet or exceed 65 percent and have a nameplate capacity rating of less than 25 megawatts.\n\t\t\t“Transmission of,”\"transmit,” or “transmitting” electric energy means the transfer of electric energy through the Commonwealth’s interconnected transmission grid from a generator to either a distributor or a retail customer.\n\t\t\t“Transmission system” means those facilities and equipment that are required to provide for the transmission of electric energy.\n\t\t\t“Waste heat to power” means a system that generates electricity through the recovery of a qualified waste heat resource.","order_by":null,"text":{"0":{"id":226891,"text":"As used in this chapter:\n\t\t“Affiliate” means any person that controls, is controlled by, or is under common control with an electric utility.\n\t\t“Aggregator” means a person that, as an agent or intermediary, (i) offers to purchase, or purchases, electric energy or (ii) offers to arrange for, or arranges for, the purchase of electric energy, for sale to, or on behalf of, two or more retail customers not controlled by or under common control with such person. The following activities shall not, in and of themselves, make a person an aggregator under this chapter: (i) furnishing legal services to two or more retail customers, suppliers or aggregators; (ii) furnishing educational, informational, or analytical services to two or more retail customers, unless direct or indirect compensation for such services is paid by an aggregator or supplier of electric energy; (iii) furnishing educational, informational, or analytical services to two or more suppliers or aggregators; (iv) providing default service under \u00a7 56-585; (v) engaging in activities of a retail electric energy supplier, licensed pursuant to \u00a7 56-587, which are authorized by such supplier’s license; and (vi) engaging in actions of a retail customer, in common with one or more other such retail customers, to issue a request for proposal or to negotiate a purchase of electric energy for consumption by such retail customers.\n\t\t“Business park” means a land development containing a minimum of 100 contiguous acres classified as a Tier 4 site under the Virginia Economic Development Partnership’s Business Ready Sites Program that is developed and constructed by a locality, an industrial development authority, or a similar political subdivision of the Commonwealth created pursuant to \u00a7 15.2-4903 or other act of the General Assembly, in order to promote business development.\n\t\t“Combined heat and power” means a method of using waste heat from electrical generation to offset traditional processes, space heating, air conditioning, or refrigeration.\n\t\t“Commission” means the State Corporation Commission.\n\t\t“Community in which a majority of the population are people of color” means a U.S. Census tract where more than 50 percent of the population comprises individuals who identify as belonging to one or more of the following groups: Black, African American, Asian, Pacific Islander, Native American, other non-white race, mixed race, Hispanic, Latino, or linguistically isolated.\n\t\t“Cooperative” means a utility formed under or subject to Chapter 9.1 (\u00a7 56-231.15 et seq.).\n\t\t“Covered entity” means a provider in the Commonwealth of an electric service not subject to competition but does not include default service providers.\n\t\t“Covered transaction” means an acquisition, merger, or consolidation of, or other transaction involving stock, securities, voting interests or assets by which one or more persons obtains control of a covered entity.\n\t\t“Curtailment” means inducing retail customers to reduce load during times of peak demand so as to ease the burden on the electrical grid.\n\t\t“Customer choice” means the opportunity for a retail customer in the Commonwealth to purchase electric energy from any supplier licensed and seeking to sell electric energy to that customer.\n\t\t“Demand response” means measures aimed at shifting time of use of electricity from peak-use periods to times of lower demand by inducing retail customers to curtail electricity usage during periods of congestion and higher prices in the electrical grid.\n\t\t“Distribute,”\"distributing,” or “distribution of” electric energy means the transfer of electric energy through a retail distribution system to a retail customer.\n\t\t“Distributor” means a person owning, controlling, or operating a retail distribution system to provide electric energy directly to retail customers.\n\t\t“Electric distribution grid transformation project” means a project associated with electric distribution infrastructure, including related data analytics equipment, that is designed to accommodate or facilitate the integration of utility-owned or customer-owned renewable electric generation resources with the utility’s electric distribution grid or to otherwise enhance electric distribution grid reliability, electric distribution grid security, customer service, or energy efficiency and conservation, including advanced metering infrastructure; intelligent grid devices for real time system and asset information; automated control systems for electric distribution circuits and substations; communications networks for service meters; intelligent grid devices and other distribution equipment; distribution system hardening projects for circuits, other than the conversion of overhead tap lines to underground service, and substations designed to reduce service outages or service restoration times; physical security measures at key distribution substations; cyber security measures; energy storage systems and microgrids that support circuit-level grid stability, power quality, reliability, or resiliency or provide temporary backup energy supply; electrical facilities and infrastructure necessary to support electric vehicle charging systems; LED street light conversions; and new customer information platforms designed to provide improved customer access, greater service options, and expanded access to energy usage information.\n\t\t“Electric utility” means any person that generates, transmits, or distributes electric energy for use by retail customers in the Commonwealth, including any investor-owned electric utility, cooperative electric utility, or electric utility owned or operated by a municipality.\n\t\t“Electrification” means measures that (i) electrify space heating, water heating, cooling, drying, cooking, industrial processes, and other building and industrial end uses that would otherwise be served by onsite, nonelectric fuels, provided that the electrification measures reduce site energy consumption; (ii) to the maximum extent practical, seek to combine with federally authorized customer rebates for heat pump technology; and (iii) for those measures that provide measurable and verifiable energy savings to low-income customers or elderly customers, to the maximum extent practical, seek to combine with either contemporaneously installed measures or previously installed measures that are or were provided under federally funded weatherization programs or state-provided, locality-provided, or utility-provided energy efficiency programs.\n\t\t“Energy efficiency program” means a program that reduces the total amount of energy that is required for the same process or activity implemented after the expiration of capped rates but does not include electrification of any process or activity primarily fueled by natural gas. Energy efficiency programs include equipment, physical, or program change designed to produce measured and verified reductions in the amount of site energy required to perform the same function and produce the same or a similar outcome. Energy efficiency programs may include (i) electrification; (ii) programs that result in improvements in lighting design, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems, appliances, building envelopes, and industrial and commercial processes; (iii) measures, such as the installation of advanced meters, implemented or installed by utilities, that reduce fuel use or losses of electricity and otherwise improve internal operating efficiency in generation, transmission, and distribution systems; and (iv) customer engagement programs that result in measurable and verifiable energy savings that lead to efficient use patterns and practices. Energy efficiency programs include demand response, combined heat and power and waste heat recovery, curtailment, or other programs that are designed to reduce site energy consumption so long as they reduce the total amount of site energy that is required for the same process or activity. Utilities shall be authorized to install and operate such advanced metering technology and equipment on a customer’s premises; however, nothing in this chapter establishes a requirement that an energy efficiency program be implemented on a customer’s premises and be connected to a customer’s wiring on the customer’s side of the inter-connection without the customer’s expressed consent. Electricity consumption increases that result from Commission-approved electrification measures shall not be considered as a reduction in energy savings under the energy savings requirements set forth in subsection B of \u00a7 56-596.2. Utilities may apply verified total site energy reductions that are attributable to Commission-approved electrification measures to the energy savings requirements set forth in subsection B of \u00a7 56-596.2, subject to a conversion of British thermal unit-based energy savings to an equivalent kilowatt-hour-based energy savings, which conversion shall be subject to Commission approval.\n\t\t“Generate,”\"generating,” or “generation of” electric energy means the production of electric energy.\n\t\t“Generator” means a person owning, controlling, or operating a facility that produces electric energy for sale.\n\t\t“Geothermal electric generating resource” means an electric generating unit that is powered by geothermal energy as defined in \u00a7 45.2-2000.\n\t\t“Geothermal heating and cooling system” means a system that:","type":"section","prefixes":[""],"prefix":"","entire_prefix":"","prefix_anchor":"","level":1,"next_prefix":"1"},"1":{"id":226892,"text":"Exchanges thermal energy from groundwater or a shallow ground source to generate thermal energy through an electric geothermal heat pump or a system of electric geothermal heat pumps interconnected with any geothermal extraction facility that is (i) a closed loop or a series of closed loop systems in which fluid is permanently confined within a pipe or tubing and does not come in contact with the outside environment or (ii) an open loop system in which ground or surface water is circulated in an environmentally safe manner directly into the facility and returned to the same aquifer or surface water source;","type":"section","prefixes":["1"],"prefix":"1","entire_prefix":"1","prefix_anchor":"1","level":1,"prior_prefix":"","next_prefix":"2"},"2":{"id":226893,"text":"Meets or exceeds the current federal Energy Star product specification standards;","type":"section","prefixes":["2"],"prefix":"2","entire_prefix":"2","prefix_anchor":"2","level":1,"prior_prefix":"1","next_prefix":"3"},"3":{"id":226894,"text":"Replaces or displaces less efficient space or water heating systems, regardless of fuel type;","type":"section","prefixes":["3"],"prefix":"3","entire_prefix":"3","prefix_anchor":"3","level":1,"prior_prefix":"2","next_prefix":"4"},"4":{"id":226895,"text":"Replaces or displaces less efficient space cooling systems that do not meet federal Energy Star product specification standards; and","type":"section","prefixes":["4"],"prefix":"4","entire_prefix":"4","prefix_anchor":"4","level":1,"prior_prefix":"3","next_prefix":"5"},"5":{"id":226896,"text":"Does not feed electricity back to the grid.\n\t\t\t“Historically economically disadvantaged community” means (i) a community in which a majority of the population are people of color or (ii) a low-income geographic area.\n\t\t\t“Incremental annual savings” means the total combined kilowatt-hour savings achieved by electric utility energy efficiency and demand response programs and measures in the program year in which they are installed.\n\t\t\t“Incumbent electric utility” means each electric utility in the Commonwealth that, prior to July 1, 1999, supplied electric energy to retail customers located in an exclusive service territory established by the Commission.\n\t\t\t“Independent system operator” means a person that may receive or has received, by transfer pursuant to this chapter, any ownership or control of, or any responsibility to operate, all or part of the transmission systems in the Commonwealth.\n\t\t\t“In the public interest,” for purposes of assessing energy efficiency programs prior to the 2029 program year, describes an energy efficiency program if the Commission determines that the net present value of the benefits exceeds the net present value of the costs as determined by not less than any three of the following four tests: (i) the Total Resource Cost Test; (ii) the Utility Cost Test (also referred to as the Program Administrator Test); (iii) the Participant Test; and (iv) the Ratepayer Impact Measure Test. Such determination shall include an analysis of all four tests, and a program or portfolio of programs shall be approved if the net present value of the benefits exceeds the net present value of the costs as determined by not less than any three of the four tests. For programs proposed for the 2029 program year and all subsequent years, the Commission shall establish targets pursuant to subdivision B 4 of § 56-596.2, and a program shall be approved if the Commission determines it is cost-effective pursuant to applicable Commission regulations and that the net present value of the benefits exceeds the net present value of the costs as determined by the Total Resource Cost Test. If the Commission determines that an energy efficiency program or portfolio of programs is not in the public interest, its final order shall include all work product and analysis conducted by the Commission’s staff in relation to that program, including testimony relied upon by the Commission’s staff, that has bearing upon the Commission’s decision. If the Commission reduces the proposed budget for a program or portfolio of programs, its final order shall include an analysis of the impact such budget reduction has upon the cost-effectiveness of such program or portfolio of programs. An order by the Commission (a) finding that a program or portfolio of programs is not in the public interest or (b) reducing the proposed budget for any program or portfolio of programs shall adhere to existing protocols for extraordinarily sensitive information. In addition, an energy efficiency program may be deemed to be “in the public interest” if the program (1) provides measurable and verifiable energy savings to low-income customers or elderly customers or (2) is a pilot program of limited scope, cost, and duration, that is intended to determine whether a new or substantially revised program or technology would be cost-effective.\n\t\t\t“Low-income geographic area” means any locality, or community within a locality, that has a median household income that is not greater than 80 percent of the local median household income, or any area in the Commonwealth designated as a qualified opportunity zone by the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury via his delegation of authority to the Internal Revenue Service.\n\t\t\t“Low-income utility customer” means any person or household whose income is no more than 80 percent of the median income of the locality in which the customer resides. The median income of the locality is determined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.\n\t\t\t“Measured and verified” means a process determined pursuant to methods accepted for use by utilities and industries to measure, verify, and validate energy savings and peak demand savings. This may include the protocol established by the United States Department of Energy, Office of Federal Energy Management Programs, Measurement and Verification Guidance for Federal Energy Projects, measurement and verification standards developed by the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), or engineering-based estimates of energy and demand savings associated with specific energy efficiency measures, as determined by the Commission.\n\t\t\t“Municipality” means a city, county, town, authority, or other political subdivision of the Commonwealth.\n\t\t\t“New underground facilities” means facilities to provide underground distribution service. “New underground facilities” includes underground cables with voltages of 69 kilovolts or less, pad-mounted devices, connections at customer meters, and transition terminations from existing overhead distribution sources.\n\t\t\t“Peak-shaving” means measures aimed solely at shifting time of use of electricity from peak-use periods to times of lower demand by inducing retail customers to curtail electricity usage during periods of congestion and higher prices in the electrical grid.\n\t\t\t“Percentage of Income Payment Program (PIPP) eligible utility customer” means any person or household whose income does not exceed 150 percent of the federal poverty level.\n\t\t\t“Person” means any individual, corporation, partnership, association, company, business, trust, joint venture, or other private legal entity, and the Commonwealth or any municipality.\n\t\t\t“Previously developed project site” means any property, including related buffer areas, if any, that has been previously disturbed or developed for non-single-family residential, non-agricultural, or non-silvicultural use, regardless of whether such property currently is being used for any purpose.\n\t\t\t“Previously developed project site” includes a brownfield as defined in § 10.1-1230 or any parcel that has been previously used (i) for a retail, commercial, or industrial purpose; (ii) as a parking lot; (iii) as the site of a parking lot canopy or structure; (iv) for mining, which is any lands affected by coal mining that took place before August 3, 1977, or any lands upon which extraction activities have been permitted by the Department of Energy under Title 45.2; (v) for quarrying; or (vi) as a landfill.\n\t\t\t“Qualified waste heat resource” means (i) exhaust heat or flared gas from an industrial process that does not have, as its primary purpose, the production of electricity and (ii) a pressure drop in any gas for an industrial or commercial process.\n\t\t\t“Renewable energy” means energy derived from sunlight, wind, falling water, biomass, sustainable or otherwise, (the definitions of which shall be liberally construed), energy from waste, landfill gas, municipal solid waste, wave motion, tides, geothermal heating and cooling systems, and geothermal electric generating resources and does not include energy derived from coal, oil, natural gas, or nuclear power. “Renewable energy” also includes the proportion of the thermal or electric energy from a facility that results from the co-firing of biomass. “Renewable energy” does not include waste heat from fossil-fired facilities or electricity generated from pumped storage but includes run-of-river generation from a combined pumped-storage and run-of-river facility.\n\t\t\t“Renewable thermal energy” means the thermal energy output from (i) a renewable-fueled combined heat and power generation facility that is (a) constructed, or renovated and improved, after January 1, 2012, (b) located in the Commonwealth, and (c) utilized in industrial processes other than the combined heat and power generation facility or (ii) a solar energy system, certified to the OG-100 standard of the Solar Ratings and Certification Corporation or an equivalent certification body, that (a) is constructed, or renovated and improved, after January 1, 2013, (b) is located in the Commonwealth, and (c) heats water or air for residential, commercial, institutional, or industrial purposes.\n\t\t\t“Renewable thermal energy equivalent” means the electrical equivalent in megawatt hours of renewable thermal energy calculated by dividing (i) the heat content, measured in British thermal units (BTUs), of the renewable thermal energy at the point of transfer to a residential, commercial, institutional, or industrial process by (ii) the standard conversion factor of 3.413 million BTUs per megawatt hour.\n\t\t\t“Renovated and improved facility” means a facility the components of which have been upgraded to enhance its operating efficiency.\n\t\t\t“Retail customer” means any person that purchases retail electric energy for its own consumption at one or more metering points or nonmetered points of delivery located in the Commonwealth.\n\t\t\t“Retail electric energy” means electric energy sold for ultimate consumption to a retail customer.\n\t\t\t“Revenue reductions related to energy efficiency programs” means reductions in the collection of total non-fuel revenues, previously authorized by the Commission to be recovered from customers by a utility, that occur due to measured and verified decreased consumption of electricity caused by energy efficiency programs approved by the Commission and implemented by the utility, less the amount by which such non-fuel reductions in total revenues have been mitigated through other program-related factors, including reductions in variable operating expenses.\n\t\t\t“Rooftop solar installation” means a distributed electric generation facility, storage facility, or generation and storage facility utilizing energy derived from sunlight, with a rated capacity of not less than 50 kilowatts, that is installed on the roof structure of an incumbent electric utility’s commercial or industrial class customer, including host sites on commercial buildings, multifamily residential buildings, school or university buildings, and buildings of a church or religious body.\n\t\t\t“Solar energy system” means a system of components that produces heat or electricity, or both, from sunlight.\n\t\t\t“Supplier” means any generator, distributor, aggregator, broker, marketer, or other person who offers to sell or sells electric energy to retail customers and is licensed by the Commission to do so, but it does not mean a generator that produces electric energy exclusively for its own consumption or the consumption of an affiliate.\n\t\t\t“Supply” or “supplying” electric energy means the sale of or the offer to sell electric energy to a retail customer.\n\t\t\t“Total annual energy savings” means (i) the total combined kilowatt-hour savings achieved by electric utility energy efficiency and demand response programs and measures installed in that program year, as well as savings still being achieved by measures and programs implemented in prior years, or (ii) savings attributable to newly installed combined heat and power facilities, including waste heat-to-power facilities, and any associated reduction in transmission line losses, provided that biomass is not a fuel and the total efficiency, including the use of thermal energy, for eligible combined heat and power facilitates must meet or exceed 65 percent and have a nameplate capacity rating of less than 25 megawatts.\n\t\t\t“Transmission of,”\"transmit,” or “transmitting” electric energy means the transfer of electric energy through the Commonwealth’s interconnected transmission grid from a generator to either a distributor or a retail customer.\n\t\t\t“Transmission system” means those facilities and equipment that are required to provide for the transmission of electric energy.\n\t\t\t“Waste heat to power” means a system that generates electricity through the recovery of a qualified waste heat 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authority; exemptions; pilot programs","url":"\/56-577\/","token":"56\/23\/56-577","metadata":false},"metadata":false,"official_url":"https:\/\/law.lis.virginia.gov\/vacode\/56-576\/","history_text":"

This law was first created in 1999. The record of its establishment is cataloged in chapter 411<\/a> of that year\u2019s edition of \u201cActs of Assembly,\u201d the annual state publication listing all changes made to the Code of Virginia in that year. It has been modified 14 times. Those modifications are cataloged by \u201cThe Acts of Assembly,\u201d a state publication, by year and chapter. Those modifications that can be read on the General Assembly\u2019s website will be linked accordingly. Those modifications are as follows: in 2000, chapter 991<\/a>; in 2001, chapter 421<\/a>; in 2007, chapters 888<\/a> and 933<\/a>; in 2008, chapters 272<\/a> and 883<\/a>; in 2009, chapters 748<\/a> and 824<\/a>; in 2012, chapters 46<\/a>, 200<\/a>, 210<\/a>, and 821<\/a>; in 2013, chapter 494<\/a>; in 2014, chapters 212<\/a> and 548<\/a>; in 2018, chapter 296<\/a>; in 2019, chapters 535<\/a> and 741<\/a>; in 2020, chapters 1193<\/a>, 1194<\/a>, and 1225<\/a>; in 2022, chapter 216<\/a>; in 2024, chapters 597<\/a>, 607<\/a>, 794<\/a>, 818<\/a>, 607<\/a>, 794<\/a>, and 818<\/a>; in 2025, chapter 714<\/a>.<\/p>","references":[{"id":70152,"section_number":"10.1-1186.2:1","catch_line":"Impact of electric generating facilities","order_by":null,"url":"\/10.1-1186.2_1\/"},{"id":80356,"section_number":"10.1-1307.02","catch_line":"Permit for generation of electricity during ISO-declared emergency","order_by":null,"url":"\/10.1-1307.02\/"},{"id":67912,"section_number":"10.1-1329","catch_line":" Definitions","order_by":null,"url":"\/10.1-1329\/"},{"id":67178,"section_number":"15.2-2316.2","catch_line":"Localities may provide for transfer of development rights","order_by":null,"url":"\/15.2-2316.2\/"},{"id":76696,"section_number":"2.2-2365","catch_line":"Definitions","order_by":null,"url":"\/2.2-2365\/"},{"id":82087,"section_number":"30-201","catch_line":"(Expires July 1, 2029) Commission on Electric Utility Restructuring continued as Commission on Electric Utility Regulation; purpose","order_by":null,"url":"\/30-201\/"},{"id":81288,"section_number":"30-202","catch_line":"(Expires July 1, 2029) Membership; terms","order_by":null,"url":"\/30-202\/"},{"id":54941,"section_number":"30-205","catch_line":"(Expires July 1, 2029) Powers and duties of the Commission","order_by":null,"url":"\/30-205\/"},{"id":70901,"section_number":"37.2-311.1","catch_line":"Comprehensive crisis system; Marcus alert system; powers and duties of the Department related to comprehensive mental health, substance abuse, and developmental disability crisis services","order_by":null,"url":"\/37.2-311.1\/"},{"id":84117,"section_number":"45.2-1706.1","catch_line":" Commonwealth Clean Energy Policy","order_by":null,"url":"\/45.2-1706.1\/"},{"id":78018,"section_number":"45.2-1710","catch_line":" Development of the Virginia Energy Plan","order_by":null,"url":"\/45.2-1710\/"},{"id":73819,"section_number":"46.2-1145.1","catch_line":"Overweight permits for certain trucks operated by electric utilities","order_by":null,"url":"\/46.2-1145.1\/"},{"id":80899,"section_number":"56-235.1:1","catch_line":"Rates for stand-by electric service at renewable cogeneration facilities","order_by":null,"url":"\/56-235.1_1\/"},{"id":86211,"section_number":"56-585.1:10","catch_line":"Program for electric infrastructure serving business parks","order_by":null,"url":"\/56-585.1_10\/"},{"id":54669,"section_number":"56-585.1:16","catch_line":"Virtual power plant pilot program","order_by":null,"url":"\/56-585.1_16\/"},{"id":83744,"section_number":"56-585.1:8","catch_line":"Pilot program for municipal net energy metering","order_by":null,"url":"\/56-585.1_8\/"},{"id":81665,"section_number":"56-585.5","catch_line":"Generation of electricity from renewable and zero carbon sources","order_by":null,"url":"\/56-585.5\/"},{"id":76060,"section_number":"56-594","catch_line":"Net energy metering provisions","order_by":null,"url":"\/56-594\/"},{"id":74615,"section_number":"56-594.01","catch_line":"Net energy metering provisions for electric cooperative service territories","order_by":null,"url":"\/56-594.01\/"},{"id":66346,"section_number":"56-594.02","catch_line":"Solar-powered or wind-powered electricity generation; power purchase agreements; pilot programs","order_by":null,"url":"\/56-594.02\/"},{"id":57707,"section_number":"56-614","catch_line":" Definitions","order_by":null,"url":"\/56-614\/"},{"id":75013,"section_number":"58.1-3221.4","catch_line":"Classification of improvements to real property designed and used primarily for the manufacture of a renewable energy product for tax purposes","order_by":null,"url":"\/58.1-3221.4\/"},{"id":84228,"section_number":"58.1-3506","catch_line":"Other classifications of tangible personal property for taxation","order_by":null,"url":"\/58.1-3506\/"},{"id":67388,"section_number":"59.1-607","catch_line":"Definitions","order_by":null,"url":"\/59.1-607\/"},{"id":61210,"section_number":"9.1-193","catch_line":"Mental health awareness response and community understanding services (Marcus) alert system; law-enforcement protocols","order_by":null,"url":"\/9.1-193\/"}],"refers_to":[{"id":79851,"section_number":"10.1-1230","catch_line":"Definitions","order_by":null,"url":"\/10.1-1230\/"},{"id":66473,"section_number":"15.2-4903","catch_line":"Creation of industrial development authorities","order_by":null,"url":"\/15.2-4903\/"},{"id":87145,"section_number":"45.2-2000","catch_line":" Definitions","order_by":null,"url":"\/45.2-2000\/"},{"id":77567,"section_number":"56-231.15","catch_line":"Definitions","order_by":null,"url":"\/56-231.15\/"},{"id":66252,"section_number":"56-585","catch_line":"Default service","order_by":null,"url":"\/56-585\/"},{"id":63919,"section_number":"56-587","catch_line":"Licensure of retail electric energy suppliers and persons providing other competitive services","order_by":null,"url":"\/56-587\/"},{"id":57383,"section_number":"56-596.2","catch_line":"Energy efficiency policy and programs; financial assistance for low-income customers","order_by":null,"url":"\/56-596.2\/"}],"permalink":{"id":250599,"object_type":"law","relational_id":62210,"identifier":"56-576","token":"56\/23\/56-576","url":"\/56-576\/","edition_id":1,"permalink":0,"preferred":1},"url":"\/56-576\/","token":"56\/23\/56-576","dublin_core":{"Title":"Definitions","Type":"Text","Format":"text\/html","Identifier":"\u00a7 56-576","Relation":"Code of Virginia"},"html":"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

As used in this chapter:\n\t\t“Affiliate<\/span>” means any person<\/span> that controls, is controlled by, or is under common control with an electric utility<\/span>.\n\t\t“Aggregator<\/span>” means a person<\/span> that, as an agent or intermediary, (i) offers to purchase, or purchases, electric energy or (ii) offers to arrange for, or arranges for, the purchase of electric energy, for sale to, or on behalf of, two or more retail customers<\/span> not controlled by or under common control with such person<\/span>. The following activities shall not, in and of themselves, make a person<\/span> an aggregator<\/span> under this chapter: (i) furnishing legal services to two or more retail customers<\/span>, suppliers<\/span> or aggregators<\/span>; (ii) furnishing educational, informational, or analytical services to two or more retail customers<\/span>, unless direct or indirect compensation for such services is paid by an aggregator<\/span> or supplier<\/span> of electric energy; (iii) furnishing educational, informational, or analytical services to two or more suppliers<\/span> or aggregators<\/span>; (iv) providing default<\/span> service under \u00a7 56-585<\/a>; (v) engaging in activities of a retail electric energy<\/span> supplier<\/span>, licensed pursuant to \u00a7 56-587<\/a>, which are authorized by such supplier<\/span>’s license; and (vi) engaging in actions of a retail customer<\/span>, in common with one or more other such retail customers<\/span>, to issue<\/span> a request for proposal or to negotiate a purchase of electric energy for consumption by such retail customers<\/span>.\n\t\t“Business park<\/span>” means a land development containing a minimum of 100 contiguous acres classified as a Tier 4 site under the Virginia Economic Development Partnership’s Business Ready Sites Program that is developed and constructed by a locality, an industrial development authority, or a similar political subdivision of the Commonwealth created pursuant to \u00a7 15.2-4903<\/a> or other act of the General Assembly, in order<\/span> to promote business development.\n\t\t“Combined heat and power<\/span>” means a method of using waste heat from electrical generation to offset traditional processes, space heating, air conditioning, or refrigeration.\n\t\t“Commission<\/span>” means the State Corporation<\/span> Commission<\/span>.\n\t\t“Community in which a majority of the population are people of color<\/span>” means a U.S. Census tract where more than 50 percent of the population comprises individuals who identify as belonging to one or more of the following groups: Black, African American, Asian, Pacific Islander, Native American, other non-white race, mixed race, Hispanic, Latino, or linguistically isolated.\n\t\t“Cooperative<\/span>” means a utility formed under or subject to Chapter 9.1 (\u00a7 56-231.15<\/a> et seq.).\n\t\t“Covered entity<\/span>” means a provider in the Commonwealth of an electric service not subject to competition but does not include default<\/span> service providers.\n\t\t“Covered transaction<\/span>” means an acquisition, merger, or consolidation<\/span> of, or other transaction involving stock, securities, voting interests or assets<\/span> by which one or more persons<\/span> obtains control of a covered entity<\/span>.\n\t\t“Curtailment<\/span>” means inducing retail customers<\/span> to reduce load during times of peak demand so as to ease the burden on the electrical grid.\n\t\t“Customer choice<\/span>” means the opportunity for a retail customer<\/span> in the Commonwealth to purchase electric energy from any supplier<\/span> licensed and seeking to sell electric energy to that customer.\n\t\t“Demand response<\/span>” means measures aimed at shifting time of use of electricity from peak-use periods to times of lower demand by inducing retail customers<\/span> to curtail electricity usage during periods of congestion and higher prices in the electrical grid.\n\t\t“Distribute,”\"distributing,” or “distribution of<\/span>” electric energy means the transfer of electric energy through a retail distribution system to a retail customer<\/span>.\n\t\t“Distributor<\/span>” means a person<\/span> owning, controlling, or operating a retail distribution system to provide electric energy directly to retail customers<\/span>.\n\t\t“Electric distribution grid transformation project<\/span>” means a project associated with electric distribution infrastructure, including related data analytics equipment, that is designed to accommodate or facilitate the integration of utility-owned or customer-owned renewable electric generation resources with the utility’s electric distribution grid or to otherwise enhance electric distribution grid reliability, electric distribution grid security, customer service, or energy efficiency and conservation, including advanced metering infrastructure; intelligent grid devices for real time system and asset information; automated control systems for electric distribution circuits<\/span> and substations; communications networks for service meters; intelligent grid devices and other distribution equipment; distribution system hardening projects for circuits<\/span>, other than the conversion of overhead tap lines to underground service, and substations designed to reduce service outages or service restoration times; physical security measures at key distribution substations; cyber security measures; energy storage systems and microgrids that support circuit<\/span>-level grid stability, power quality, reliability, or resiliency or provide temporary backup energy supply<\/span>; electrical facilities and infrastructure necessary to support electric vehicle charging systems; LED street light conversions; and new customer information platforms designed to provide improved customer access, greater service options, and expanded access to energy usage information.\n\t\t“Electric utility<\/span>” means any person<\/span> that generates, transmits, or distributes electric energy for use by retail customers<\/span> in the Commonwealth, including any investor-owned electric utility<\/span>, cooperative<\/span> electric utility<\/span>, or electric utility<\/span> owned or operated by a municipality<\/span>.\n\t\t“Electrification<\/span>” means measures that (i) electrify space heating, water heating, cooling, drying, cooking, industrial processes, and other building and industrial end uses that would otherwise be served by onsite, nonelectric fuels, provided that the electrification<\/span> measures reduce site energy consumption; (ii) to the maximum extent practical, seek to combine with federally authorized customer rebates for heat pump technology; and (iii) for those measures that provide measurable and verifiable energy savings to low-income customers or elderly customers, to the maximum extent practical, seek to combine with either contemporaneously installed measures or previously installed measures that are or were provided under federally funded weatherization programs or state-provided, locality-provided, or utility-provided energy efficiency programs<\/span>.\n\t\t“Energy efficiency program<\/span>” means a program that reduces the total amount of energy that is required for the same process or activity implemented after the expiration of capped rates<\/span> but does not include electrification<\/span> of any process or activity primarily fueled by natural gas. Energy efficiency programs<\/span> include equipment, physical, or program change designed to produce measured and verified<\/span> reductions in the amount of site energy required to perform the same function and produce the same or a similar outcome. Energy efficiency programs<\/span> may include (i) electrification<\/span>; (ii) programs that result in improvements in lighting design, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems, appliances, building envelopes, and industrial and commercial processes; (iii) measures, such as the installation of advanced meters, implemented or installed by utilities, that reduce fuel use or losses of electricity and otherwise improve internal operating efficiency in generation, transmission, and distribution systems; and (iv) customer engagement programs that result in measurable and verifiable energy savings that lead to efficient use patterns and practices. Energy efficiency programs<\/span> include demand response<\/span>, combined heat and power<\/span> and waste heat recovery, curtailment<\/span>, or other programs that are designed to reduce site energy consumption so long as they reduce the total amount of site energy that is required for the same process or activity. Utilities shall be authorized to install and operate such advanced metering technology and equipment on a customer’s premises; however, nothing in this chapter establishes a requirement that an energy efficiency program<\/span> be implemented on a customer’s premises and be connected to a customer’s wiring on the customer’s side of the inter-connection without the customer’s expressed consent. Electricity consumption increases that result from Commission<\/span>-approved electrification<\/span> measures shall not be considered as a reduction in energy savings under the energy savings requirements set forth in subsection B of \u00a7 56-596.2<\/a>. Utilities may apply verified total site energy reductions that are attributable to Commission<\/span>-approved electrification<\/span> measures to the energy savings requirements set forth in subsection B of \u00a7 56-596.2<\/a>, subject to a conversion of British thermal unit-based energy savings to an equivalent kilowatt-hour-based energy savings, which conversion shall be subject to Commission<\/span> approval.\n\t\t“Generate,”\"generating,” or “generation of<\/span>” electric energy means the production of electric energy.\n\t\t“Generator<\/span>” means a person<\/span> owning, controlling, or operating a facility that produces electric energy for sale.\n\t\t“Geothermal electric generating resource<\/span>” means an electric generating unit that is powered by geothermal energy as defined in \u00a7 45.2-2000<\/a>.\n\t\t“Geothermal heating and cooling system<\/span>” means a system that:<\/p><\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

1.<\/span> Exchanges thermal energy from groundwater or a shallow ground source to generate thermal energy through an electric geothermal heat pump or a system of electric geothermal heat pumps interconnected with any geothermal extraction facility that is (i) a closed loop or a series of closed loop systems in which fluid is permanently confined within a pipe or tubing and does not come in contact with the outside environment or (ii) an open loop system in which ground or surface water is circulated in an environmentally safe manner directly into the facility and returned to the same aquifer or surface water source; <\/i><\/a><\/p><\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

2.<\/span> Meets or exceeds the current federal Energy Star product specification standards; <\/i><\/a><\/p><\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

3.<\/span> Replaces or displaces less efficient space or water heating systems, regardless of fuel type; <\/i><\/a><\/p><\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

4.<\/span> Replaces or displaces less efficient space cooling systems that do not meet federal Energy Star product specification standards; and <\/i><\/a><\/p><\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

5.<\/span> Does not feed electricity back to the grid.\n\t\t\t“Historically economically disadvantaged community<\/span>” means (i) a community in which a majority of the population are people of color<\/span> or (ii) a low-income geographic area<\/span>.\n\t\t\t“Incremental annual savings<\/span>” means the total combined kilowatt-hour savings achieved by electric utility energy efficiency and demand response<\/span> programs and measures in the program year in which they are installed.\n\t\t\t“Incumbent electric utility<\/span>” means each electric utility in the Commonwealth that, prior to July 1, 1999, supplied electric energy to retail customers<\/span> located in an exclusive service territory established by the Commission<\/span>.\n\t\t\t“Independent system operator<\/span>” means a person<\/span> that may receive or has received, by transfer pursuant to this chapter, any ownership or control of, or any responsibility to operate, all or part of the transmission systems<\/span> in the Commonwealth.\n\t\t\t“In the public interest<\/span>,” for purposes of assessing energy efficiency programs<\/span> prior to the 2029 program year, describes an energy efficiency program<\/span> if the Commission<\/span> determines that the net present value of the benefits exceeds the net present value of the costs as determined by not less than any three of the following four tests: (i) the Total Resource Cost Test; (ii) the Utility Cost Test (also referred to as the Program Administrator Test); (iii) the Participant Test; and (iv) the Ratepayer Impact Measure Test. Such determination shall include an analysis of all four tests, and a program or portfolio of programs shall be approved if the net present value of the benefits exceeds the net present value of the costs as determined by not less than any three of the four tests. For programs proposed for the 2029 program year and all subsequent years, the Commission<\/span> shall establish targets pursuant to subdivision B 4 of § 56-596.2<\/a>, and a program shall be approved if the Commission<\/span> determines it is cost-effective pursuant to applicable Commission<\/span> regulations and that the net present value of the benefits exceeds the net present value of the costs as determined by the Total Resource Cost Test. If the Commission<\/span> determines that an energy efficiency program<\/span> or portfolio of programs is not in the public interest<\/span>, its final order<\/span> shall include all work product and analysis conducted by the Commission<\/span>’s staff in relation to that program, including testimony<\/span> relied upon by the Commission<\/span>’s staff, that has bearing upon the Commission<\/span>’s decision. If the Commission<\/span> reduces the proposed budget for a program or portfolio of programs, its final order<\/span> shall include an analysis of the impact such budget reduction has upon the cost-effectiveness of such program or portfolio of programs. An order by the Commission<\/span> (a) finding<\/span> that a program or portfolio of programs is not in the public interest<\/span> or (b) reducing the proposed budget for any program or portfolio of programs shall adhere to existing protocols for extraordinarily sensitive information. In addition, an energy efficiency program<\/span> may be deemed to be “in the public interest<\/span>” if the program (1) provides measurable and verifiable energy savings to low-income customers or elderly customers or (2) is a pilot program of limited scope, cost, and duration, that is intended to determine whether a new or substantially revised program or technology would be cost-effective.\n\t\t\t“Low-income geographic area<\/span>” means any locality, or community within a locality, that has a median household income that is not greater than 80 percent of the local median household income, or any area in the Commonwealth designated as a qualified opportunity zone by the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury via his delegation of authority to the Internal Revenue Service.\n\t\t\t“Low-income utility customer<\/span>” means any person<\/span> or household whose income is no more than 80 percent of the median income of the locality in which the customer resides. The median income of the locality is determined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.\n\t\t\t“Measured and verified<\/span>” means a process determined pursuant to methods accepted for use by utilities and industries to measure, verify, and validate energy savings and peak demand savings. This may include the protocol established by the United States Department of Energy, Office of Federal Energy Management Programs, Measurement and Verification Guidance for Federal Energy Projects, measurement and verification standards developed by the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), or engineering-based estimates of energy and demand savings associated with specific energy efficiency measures, as determined by the Commission<\/span>.\n\t\t\t“Municipality<\/span>” means a city, county, town, authority, or other political subdivision of the Commonwealth.\n\t\t\t“New underground facilities<\/span>” means facilities to provide underground distribution service. “New underground facilities<\/span>” includes underground cables with voltages of 69 kilovolts or less, pad-mounted devices, connections at customer meters, and transition terminations from existing overhead distribution sources.\n\t\t\t“Peak-shaving<\/span>” means measures aimed solely at shifting time of use of electricity from peak-use periods to times of lower demand by inducing retail customers<\/span> to curtail electricity usage during periods of congestion and higher prices in the electrical grid.\n\t\t\t“Percentage of Income Payment Program (PIPP) eligible utility customer” means any person<\/span> or household whose income does not exceed 150 percent of the federal poverty level.\n\t\t\t“Person<\/span>” means any individual, corporation<\/span>, partnership, association, company<\/span>, business, trust, joint venture, or other private legal entity, and the Commonwealth or any municipality<\/span>.\n\t\t\t“Previously developed project site<\/span>” means any property, including related buffer areas, if any, that has been previously disturbed or developed for non-single-family residential, non-agricultural, or non-silvicultural use, regardless of whether such property currently is being used for any purpose.\n\t\t\t“Previously developed project site<\/span>” includes a brownfield as defined in § 10.1-1230<\/a> or any parcel that has been previously used (i) for a retail, commercial, or industrial purpose; (ii) as a parking lot; (iii) as the site of a parking lot canopy or structure; (iv) for mining, which is any lands affected by coal mining that took place before August 3, 1977, or any lands upon which extraction activities have been permitted by the Department of Energy under Title 45.2; (v) for quarrying; or (vi) as a landfill.\n\t\t\t“Qualified waste heat resource<\/span>” means (i) exhaust heat or flared gas from an industrial process that does not have, as its primary purpose, the production of electricity and (ii) a pressure drop in any gas for an industrial or commercial process.\n\t\t\t“Renewable energy<\/span>” means energy derived from sunlight, wind, falling water, biomass, sustainable or otherwise, (the definitions of which shall be liberally construed), energy from waste, landfill gas, municipal solid waste, wave motion<\/span>, tides, geothermal heating and cooling systems<\/span>, and geothermal electric generating resources<\/span> and does not include energy derived from coal, oil, natural gas, or nuclear power. “Renewable energy<\/span>” also includes the proportion of the thermal or electric energy from a facility that results from the co-firing of biomass. “Renewable energy<\/span>” does not include waste heat from fossil-fired facilities or electricity generated from pumped storage but includes run-of-river generation from a combined pumped-storage and run-of-river facility.\n\t\t\t“Renewable thermal energy<\/span>” means the thermal energy output from (i) a renewable-fueled combined heat and power<\/span> generation facility that is (a) constructed, or renovated and improved, after January 1, 2012, (b) located in the Commonwealth, and (c) utilized in industrial processes other than the combined heat and power<\/span> generation facility or (ii) a solar energy system<\/span>, certified to the OG-100 standard of the Solar Ratings and Certification Corporation<\/span> or an equivalent certification body, that (a) is constructed, or renovated and improved, after January 1, 2013, (b) is located in the Commonwealth, and (c) heats water or air for residential, commercial, institutional, or industrial purposes.\n\t\t\t“Renewable thermal energy<\/span> equivalent<\/span>” means the electrical equivalent in megawatt hours of renewable thermal energy<\/span> calculated by dividing (i) the heat content, measured in British thermal units (BTUs), of the renewable thermal energy<\/span> at the point of transfer to a residential, commercial, institutional, or industrial process by (ii) the standard conversion factor of 3.413 million BTUs per megawatt hour.\n\t\t\t“Renovated and improved facility<\/span>” means a facility the components of which have been upgraded to enhance its operating efficiency.\n\t\t\t“Retail customer<\/span>” means any person<\/span> that purchases retail electric energy<\/span> for its own consumption at one or more metering points or nonmetered points of delivery located in the Commonwealth.\n\t\t\t“Retail electric energy<\/span>” means electric energy sold for ultimate consumption to a retail customer<\/span>.\n\t\t\t“Revenue reductions related to energy efficiency programs<\/span><\/span>” means reductions in the collection of total non-fuel revenues, previously authorized by the Commission<\/span> to be recovered from customers by a utility, that occur due to measured and verified<\/span> decreased consumption of electricity caused by energy efficiency programs<\/span> approved by the Commission<\/span> and implemented by the utility, less the amount by which such non-fuel reductions in total revenues have been mitigated through other program-related factors, including reductions in variable operating expenses.\n\t\t\t“Rooftop solar installation<\/span>” means a distributed electric generation facility, storage facility, or generation and storage facility utilizing energy derived from sunlight, with a rated capacity of not less than 50 kilowatts, that is installed on the roof structure of an incumbent electric utility<\/span>’s commercial or industrial class customer, including host sites on commercial buildings, multifamily residential buildings, school or university buildings, and buildings of a church or religious body.\n\t\t\t“Solar energy system<\/span>” means a system of components that produces heat or electricity, or both, from sunlight.\n\t\t\t“Supplier<\/span>” means any generator<\/span>, distributor<\/span>, aggregator<\/span>, broker, marketer, or other person<\/span> who offers to sell or sells electric energy to retail customers<\/span> and is licensed by the Commission<\/span> to do so, but it does not mean a generator<\/span> that produces electric energy exclusively for its own consumption or the consumption of an affiliate<\/span>.\n\t\t\t“Supply<\/span>” or “supplying<\/span>” electric energy means the sale of or the offer to sell electric energy to a retail customer<\/span>.\n\t\t\t“Total annual energy savings<\/span>” means (i) the total combined kilowatt-hour savings achieved by electric utility energy efficiency and demand response<\/span> programs and measures installed in that program year, as well as savings still being achieved by measures and programs implemented in prior years, or (ii) savings attributable to newly installed combined heat and power<\/span> facilities, including waste heat-to-power facilities, and any associated reduction in transmission line losses, provided that biomass is not a fuel and the total efficiency, including the use of thermal energy, for eligible combined heat and power<\/span> facilitates must meet or exceed 65 percent and have a nameplate capacity rating of less than 25 megawatts.\n\t\t\t“Transmission of,”\"transmit,” or “transmitting<\/span>” electric energy means the transfer of electric energy through the Commonwealth’s interconnected transmission grid from a generator<\/span> to either a distributor<\/span> or a retail customer<\/span>.\n\t\t\t“Transmission system<\/span>” means those facilities and equipment that are required to provide for the transmission of electric energy.\n\t\t\t“Waste heat to power<\/span>” means a system that generates electricity through the recovery of a qualified waste heat resource<\/span>. <\/i><\/a><\/p><\/section>","plain_text":" CODE OF VIRGINIA\n\nDEFINITIONS (\u00a7 56-576)\n\nAs used in this chapter:\n\t\t“Affiliate” means any person that controls, is controlled by, or\nis under common control with an electric utility.\n\t\t“Aggregator” means a person that, as an agent or intermediary, (i)\noffers to purchase, or purchases, electric energy or (ii) offers to arrange for,\nor arranges for, the purchase of electric energy, for sale to, or on behalf of,\ntwo or more retail customers not controlled by or under common control with such\nperson. The following activities shall not, in and of themselves, make a person\nan aggregator under this chapter: (i) furnishing legal services to two or more\nretail customers, suppliers or aggregators; (ii) furnishing educational,\ninformational, or analytical services to two or more retail customers, unless\ndirect or indirect compensation for such services is paid by an aggregator or\nsupplier of electric energy; (iii) furnishing educational, informational, or\nanalytical services to two or more suppliers or aggregators; (iv) providing\ndefault service under \u00a7 56-585; (v) engaging in activities of a retail electric\nenergy supplier, licensed pursuant to \u00a7 56-587, which are authorized by such\nsupplier’s license; and (vi) engaging in actions of a retail customer, in\ncommon with one or more other such retail customers, to issue a request for\nproposal or to negotiate a purchase of electric energy for consumption by such\nretail customers.\n\t\t“Business park” means a land development containing a minimum of\n100 contiguous acres classified as a Tier 4 site under the Virginia Economic\nDevelopment Partnership’s Business Ready Sites Program that is developed\nand constructed by a locality, an industrial development authority, or a similar\npolitical subdivision of the Commonwealth created pursuant to \u00a7 15.2-4903 or\nother act of the General Assembly, in order to promote business development.\n\t\t“Combined heat and power” means a method of using waste heat from\nelectrical generation to offset traditional processes, space heating, air\nconditioning, or refrigeration.\n\t\t“Commission” means the State Corporation Commission.\n\t\t“Community in which a majority of the population are people of\ncolor” means a U.S. Census tract where more than 50 percent of the\npopulation comprises individuals who identify as belonging to one or more of the\nfollowing groups: Black, African American, Asian, Pacific Islander, Native\nAmerican, other non-white race, mixed race, Hispanic, Latino, or linguistically\nisolated.\n\t\t“Cooperative” means a utility formed under or subject to Chapter\n9.1 (\u00a7 56-231.15 et seq.).\n\t\t“Covered entity” means a provider in the Commonwealth of an\nelectric service not subject to competition but does not include default service\nproviders.\n\t\t“Covered transaction” means an acquisition, merger, or\nconsolidation of, or other transaction involving stock, securities, voting\ninterests or assets by which one or more persons obtains control of a covered\nentity.\n\t\t“Curtailment” means inducing retail customers to reduce load\nduring times of peak demand so as to ease the burden on the electrical grid.\n\t\t“Customer choice” means the opportunity for a retail customer in\nthe Commonwealth to purchase electric energy from any supplier licensed and\nseeking to sell electric energy to that customer.\n\t\t“Demand response” means measures aimed at shifting time of use of\nelectricity from peak-use periods to times of lower demand by inducing retail\ncustomers to curtail electricity usage during periods of congestion and higher\nprices in the electrical grid.\n\t\t“Distribute,”\"distributing,” or “distribution\nof” electric energy means the transfer of electric energy through a retail\ndistribution system to a retail customer.\n\t\t“Distributor” means a person owning, controlling, or operating a\nretail distribution system to provide electric energy directly to retail\ncustomers.\n\t\t“Electric distribution grid transformation project” means a\nproject associated with electric distribution infrastructure, including related\ndata analytics equipment, that is designed to accommodate or facilitate the\nintegration of utility-owned or customer-owned renewable electric generation\nresources with the utility’s electric distribution grid or to otherwise\nenhance electric distribution grid reliability, electric distribution grid\nsecurity, customer service, or energy efficiency and conservation, including\nadvanced metering infrastructure; intelligent grid devices for real time system\nand asset information; automated control systems for electric distribution\ncircuits and substations; communications networks for service meters;\nintelligent grid devices and other distribution equipment; distribution system\nhardening projects for circuits, other than the conversion of overhead tap lines\nto underground service, and substations designed to reduce service outages or\nservice restoration times; physical security measures at key distribution\nsubstations; cyber security measures; energy storage systems and microgrids that\nsupport circuit-level grid stability, power quality, reliability, or resiliency\nor provide temporary backup energy supply; electrical facilities and\ninfrastructure necessary to support electric vehicle charging systems; LED\nstreet light conversions; and new customer information platforms designed to\nprovide improved customer access, greater service options, and expanded access\nto energy usage information.\n\t\t“Electric utility” means any person that generates, transmits, or\ndistributes electric energy for use by retail customers in the Commonwealth,\nincluding any investor-owned electric utility, cooperative electric utility, or\nelectric utility owned or operated by a municipality.\n\t\t“Electrification” means measures that (i) electrify space heating,\nwater heating, cooling, drying, cooking, industrial processes, and other\nbuilding and industrial end uses that would otherwise be served by onsite,\nnonelectric fuels, provided that the electrification measures reduce site energy\nconsumption; (ii) to the maximum extent practical, seek to combine with\nfederally authorized customer rebates for heat pump technology; and (iii) for\nthose measures that provide measurable and verifiable energy savings to\nlow-income customers or elderly customers, to the maximum extent practical, seek\nto combine with either contemporaneously installed measures or previously\ninstalled measures that are or were provided under federally funded\nweatherization programs or state-provided, locality-provided, or\nutility-provided energy efficiency programs.\n\t\t“Energy efficiency program” means a program that reduces the total\namount of energy that is required for the same process or activity implemented\nafter the expiration of capped rates but does not include electrification of any\nprocess or activity primarily fueled by natural gas. Energy efficiency programs\ninclude equipment, physical, or program change designed to produce measured and\nverified reductions in the amount of site energy required to perform the same\nfunction and produce the same or a similar outcome. Energy efficiency programs\nmay include (i) electrification; (ii) programs that result in improvements in\nlighting design, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems, appliances,\nbuilding envelopes, and industrial and commercial processes; (iii) measures,\nsuch as the installation of advanced meters, implemented or installed by\nutilities, that reduce fuel use or losses of electricity and otherwise improve\ninternal operating efficiency in generation, transmission, and distribution\nsystems; and (iv) customer engagement programs that result in measurable and\nverifiable energy savings that lead to efficient use patterns and practices.\nEnergy efficiency programs include demand response, combined heat and power and\nwaste heat recovery, curtailment, or other programs that are designed to reduce\nsite energy consumption so long as they reduce the total amount of site energy\nthat is required for the same process or activity. Utilities shall be authorized\nto install and operate such advanced metering technology and equipment on a\ncustomer’s premises; however, nothing in this chapter establishes a\nrequirement that an energy efficiency program be implemented on a\ncustomer’s premises and be connected to a customer’s wiring on the\ncustomer’s side of the inter-connection without the customer’s\nexpressed consent. Electricity consumption increases that result from\nCommission-approved electrification measures shall not be considered as a\nreduction in energy savings under the energy savings requirements set forth in\nsubsection B of \u00a7 56-596.2. Utilities may apply verified total site energy\nreductions that are attributable to Commission-approved electrification measures\nto the energy savings requirements set forth in subsection B of \u00a7 56-596.2,\nsubject to a conversion of British thermal unit-based energy savings to an\nequivalent kilowatt-hour-based energy savings, which conversion shall be subject\nto Commission approval.\n\t\t“Generate,”\"generating,” or “generation of”\nelectric energy means the production of electric energy.\n\t\t“Generator” means a person owning, controlling, or operating a\nfacility that produces electric energy for sale.\n\t\t“Geothermal electric generating resource” means an electric\ngenerating unit that is powered by geothermal energy as defined in \u00a7 45.2-2000.\n\t\t“Geothermal heating and cooling system” means a system that:\n\n1. Exchanges thermal energy from groundwater or a shallow ground source to\ngenerate thermal energy through an electric geothermal heat pump or a system of\nelectric geothermal heat pumps interconnected with any geothermal extraction\nfacility that is (i) a closed loop or a series of closed loop systems in which\nfluid is permanently confined within a pipe or tubing and does not come in\ncontact with the outside environment or (ii) an open loop system in which ground\nor surface water is circulated in an environmentally safe manner directly into\nthe facility and returned to the same aquifer or surface water source;\n\n2. Meets or exceeds the current federal Energy Star product specification\nstandards;\n\n3. Replaces or displaces less efficient space or water heating systems,\nregardless of fuel type;\n\n4. Replaces or displaces less efficient space cooling systems that do not meet\nfederal Energy Star product specification standards; and\n\n5. Does not feed electricity back to the grid.\n\t\t\t“Historically economically disadvantaged community” means (i) a\ncommunity in which a majority of the population are people of color or (ii) a\nlow-income geographic area.\n\t\t\t“Incremental annual savings” means the total combined\nkilowatt-hour savings achieved by electric utility energy efficiency and demand\nresponse programs and measures in the program year in which they are installed.\n\t\t\t“Incumbent electric utility” means each electric utility in the\nCommonwealth that, prior to July 1, 1999, supplied electric energy to retail\ncustomers located in an exclusive service territory established by the\nCommission.\n\t\t\t“Independent system operator” means a person that may receive or\nhas received, by transfer pursuant to this chapter, any ownership or control of,\nor any responsibility to operate, all or part of the transmission systems in the\nCommonwealth.\n\t\t\t“In the public interest,” for purposes of assessing energy\nefficiency programs prior to the 2029 program year, describes an energy\nefficiency program if the Commission determines that the net present value of\nthe benefits exceeds the net present value of the costs as determined by not\nless than any three of the following four tests: (i) the Total Resource Cost\nTest; (ii) the Utility Cost Test (also referred to as the Program Administrator\nTest); (iii) the Participant Test; and (iv) the Ratepayer Impact Measure Test.\nSuch determination shall include an analysis of all four tests, and a program or\nportfolio of programs shall be approved if the net present value of the benefits\nexceeds the net present value of the costs as determined by not less than any\nthree of the four tests. For programs proposed for the 2029 program year and all\nsubsequent years, the Commission shall establish targets pursuant to subdivision\nB 4 of § 56-596.2, and a program shall be approved if the Commission\ndetermines it is cost-effective pursuant to applicable Commission regulations\nand that the net present value of the benefits exceeds the net present value of\nthe costs as determined by the Total Resource Cost Test. If the Commission\ndetermines that an energy efficiency program or portfolio of programs is not in\nthe public interest, its final order shall include all work product and analysis\nconducted by the Commission’s staff in relation to that program, including\ntestimony relied upon by the Commission’s staff, that has bearing upon the\nCommission’s decision. If the Commission reduces the proposed budget for a\nprogram or portfolio of programs, its final order shall include an analysis of\nthe impact such budget reduction has upon the cost-effectiveness of such program\nor portfolio of programs. An order by the Commission (a) finding that a program\nor portfolio of programs is not in the public interest or (b) reducing the\nproposed budget for any program or portfolio of programs shall adhere to\nexisting protocols for extraordinarily sensitive information. In addition, an\nenergy efficiency program may be deemed to be “in the public\ninterest” if the program (1) provides measurable and verifiable energy\nsavings to low-income customers or elderly customers or (2) is a pilot program\nof limited scope, cost, and duration, that is intended to determine whether a\nnew or substantially revised program or technology would be cost-effective.\n\t\t\t“Low-income geographic area” means any locality, or community\nwithin a locality, that has a median household income that is not greater than\n80 percent of the local median household income, or any area in the Commonwealth\ndesignated as a qualified opportunity zone by the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury\nvia his delegation of authority to the Internal Revenue Service.\n\t\t\t“Low-income utility customer” means any person or household whose\nincome is no more than 80 percent of the median income of the locality in which\nthe customer resides. The median income of the locality is determined by the\nU.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.\n\t\t\t“Measured and verified” means a process determined pursuant to\nmethods accepted for use by utilities and industries to measure, verify, and\nvalidate energy savings and peak demand savings. This may include the protocol\nestablished by the United States Department of Energy, Office of Federal Energy\nManagement Programs, Measurement and Verification Guidance for Federal Energy\nProjects, measurement and verification standards developed by the American\nSociety of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), or\nengineering-based estimates of energy and demand savings associated with\nspecific energy efficiency measures, as determined by the Commission.\n\t\t\t“Municipality” means a city, county, town, authority, or other\npolitical subdivision of the Commonwealth.\n\t\t\t“New underground facilities” means facilities to provide\nunderground distribution service. “New underground facilities”\nincludes underground cables with voltages of 69 kilovolts or less, pad-mounted\ndevices, connections at customer meters, and transition terminations from\nexisting overhead distribution sources.\n\t\t\t“Peak-shaving” means measures aimed solely at shifting time of\nuse of electricity from peak-use periods to times of lower demand by inducing\nretail customers to curtail electricity usage during periods of congestion and\nhigher prices in the electrical grid.\n\t\t\t“Percentage of Income Payment Program (PIPP) eligible utility\ncustomer” means any person or household whose income does not exceed 150\npercent of the federal poverty level.\n\t\t\t“Person” means any individual, corporation, partnership,\nassociation, company, business, trust, joint venture, or other private legal\nentity, and the Commonwealth or any municipality.\n\t\t\t“Previously developed project site” means any property, including\nrelated buffer areas, if any, that has been previously disturbed or developed\nfor non-single-family residential, non-agricultural, or non-silvicultural use,\nregardless of whether such property currently is being used for any purpose.\n\t\t\t“Previously developed project site” includes a brownfield as\ndefined in § 10.1-1230 or any parcel that has been previously used (i) for\na retail, commercial, or industrial purpose; (ii) as a parking lot; (iii) as the\nsite of a parking lot canopy or structure; (iv) for mining, which is any lands\naffected by coal mining that took place before August 3, 1977, or any lands upon\nwhich extraction activities have been permitted by the Department of Energy\nunder Title 45.2; (v) for quarrying; or (vi) as a landfill.\n\t\t\t“Qualified waste heat resource” means (i) exhaust heat or flared\ngas from an industrial process that does not have, as its primary purpose, the\nproduction of electricity and (ii) a pressure drop in any gas for an industrial\nor commercial process.\n\t\t\t“Renewable energy” means energy derived from sunlight, wind,\nfalling water, biomass, sustainable or otherwise, (the definitions of which\nshall be liberally construed), energy from waste, landfill gas, municipal solid\nwaste, wave motion, tides, geothermal heating and cooling systems, and\ngeothermal electric generating resources and does not include energy derived\nfrom coal, oil, natural gas, or nuclear power. “Renewable energy”\nalso includes the proportion of the thermal or electric energy from a facility\nthat results from the co-firing of biomass. “Renewable energy” does\nnot include waste heat from fossil-fired facilities or electricity generated\nfrom pumped storage but includes run-of-river generation from a combined\npumped-storage and run-of-river facility.\n\t\t\t“Renewable thermal energy” means the thermal energy output from\n(i) a renewable-fueled combined heat and power generation facility that is (a)\nconstructed, or renovated and improved, after January 1, 2012, (b) located in\nthe Commonwealth, and (c) utilized in industrial processes other than the\ncombined heat and power generation facility or (ii) a solar energy system,\ncertified to the OG-100 standard of the Solar Ratings and Certification\nCorporation or an equivalent certification body, that (a) is constructed, or\nrenovated and improved, after January 1, 2013, (b) is located in the\nCommonwealth, and (c) heats water or air for residential, commercial,\ninstitutional, or industrial purposes.\n\t\t\t“Renewable thermal energy equivalent” means the electrical\nequivalent in megawatt hours of renewable thermal energy calculated by dividing\n(i) the heat content, measured in British thermal units (BTUs), of the renewable\nthermal energy at the point of transfer to a residential, commercial,\ninstitutional, or industrial process by (ii) the standard conversion factor of\n3.413 million BTUs per megawatt hour.\n\t\t\t“Renovated and improved facility” means a facility the components\nof which have been upgraded to enhance its operating efficiency.\n\t\t\t“Retail customer” means any person that purchases retail electric\nenergy for its own consumption at one or more metering points or nonmetered\npoints of delivery located in the Commonwealth.\n\t\t\t“Retail electric energy” means electric energy sold for ultimate\nconsumption to a retail customer.\n\t\t\t“Revenue reductions related to energy efficiency programs” means\nreductions in the collection of total non-fuel revenues, previously authorized\nby the Commission to be recovered from customers by a utility, that occur due to\nmeasured and verified decreased consumption of electricity caused by energy\nefficiency programs approved by the Commission and implemented by the utility,\nless the amount by which such non-fuel reductions in total revenues have been\nmitigated through other program-related factors, including reductions in\nvariable operating expenses.\n\t\t\t“Rooftop solar installation” means a distributed electric\ngeneration facility, storage facility, or generation and storage facility\nutilizing energy derived from sunlight, with a rated capacity of not less than\n50 kilowatts, that is installed on the roof structure of an incumbent electric\nutility’s commercial or industrial class customer, including host sites on\ncommercial buildings, multifamily residential buildings, school or university\nbuildings, and buildings of a church or religious body.\n\t\t\t“Solar energy system” means a system of components that produces\nheat or electricity, or both, from sunlight.\n\t\t\t“Supplier” means any generator, distributor, aggregator, broker,\nmarketer, or other person who offers to sell or sells electric energy to retail\ncustomers and is licensed by the Commission to do so, but it does not mean a\ngenerator that produces electric energy exclusively for its own consumption or\nthe consumption of an affiliate.\n\t\t\t“Supply” or “supplying” electric energy means the\nsale of or the offer to sell electric energy to a retail customer.\n\t\t\t“Total annual energy savings” means (i) the total combined\nkilowatt-hour savings achieved by electric utility energy efficiency and demand\nresponse programs and measures installed in that program year, as well as\nsavings still being achieved by measures and programs implemented in prior\nyears, or (ii) savings attributable to newly installed combined heat and power\nfacilities, including waste heat-to-power facilities, and any associated\nreduction in transmission line losses, provided that biomass is not a fuel and\nthe total efficiency, including the use of thermal energy, for eligible combined\nheat and power facilitates must meet or exceed 65 percent and have a nameplate\ncapacity rating of less than 25 megawatts.\n\t\t\t“Transmission of,”\"transmit,” or “transmitting”\nelectric energy means the transfer of electric energy through the\nCommonwealth’s interconnected transmission grid from a generator to either\na distributor or a retail customer.\n\t\t\t“Transmission system” means those facilities and equipment that\nare required to provide for the transmission of electric energy.\n\t\t\t“Waste heat to power” means a system that generates electricity\nthrough the recovery of a qualified waste heat resource.\n\nHISTORY: 1999, c. 411; 2000, c. 991; 2001, c. 421; 2007, cc. 888, 933; 2008, cc.\n272, 883; 2009, cc. 748, 824; 2012, cc. 46, 200, 210, 821; 2013, c. 494; 2014,\ncc. 212, 548; 2018, c. 296; 2019, cc. 535, 741; 2020, cc. 1193, 1194, 1225;\n2021, Sp. Sess. I, cc. 308, 532; 2022, c. 216; 2024, cc. 597, 607, 794, 818,\n607, 794, 818; 2025, c. 714.","edition":{"id":1,"name":"2025","slug":"2025","date_created":"2026-06-21 22:39:22","date_modified":"2026-06-21 22:39:22","current":1,"order_by":1,"last_import":null}}