                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

COMMISSION TO MONITOR FUEL PRICES AND UTILITY FUEL PURCHASES; FUEL PRICE INDEX
(§ 56-248.1)

A. The Commission shall monitor all fuel purchases, transportation costs, and
contracts for such purchases of a utility to ascertain that all feasible
economies are being utilized. Subject to the provisions of &#xA7; 56-234, the
Commission shall allow natural gas utilities to include in their fuel portfolios
supplemental or substitute forms of gas sources that meet the natural gas
utility&#8217;s pipeline quality gas standards and that reduce the emissions
intensity of its fuel portfolio. A natural gas utility shall procure
supplemental or substitute forms of gas sources utilizing standard industry
practices and shall report to the Commission annually the imputed reduction in
carbon dioxide equivalent resulting from such purchasing practices.

B. As used in this section:
			&#8220;Biogas&#8221; means a mixture of hydrocarbons that is a gas at 60
degrees Fahrenheit and one atmosphere of pressure that is produced through the
anaerobic digestion or thermal conversion of organic matter.
			&#8220;Low-emission natural gas&#8221; means natural gas produced from a
geologic source that has a methane intensity of 0.20 or less (i) as reported
under a protocol approved by the federal Environmental Protection Agency&#8217;s
Gas STAR Methane Challenge, (ii) as certified by the United Nations Environment
Programme&#8217;s Oil and Gas Methane Partnership 2.0, or (iii) as validated
under a Qualified Attribute Commodities Platform.
			&#8220;Methane intensity&#8221; means the methane emissions assigned to
natural gas on an energy basis divided by the total methane content of produced
natural gas.
			&#8220;Qualified Attribute Commodities Platform&#8221; means a trading
mechanism for natural gas or natural gas attributes that are nonfinancial
intangible commodities that represents, packages, and certifies the qualifying
attributes of an amount of low-emission natural gas. A Qualified Attribute
Commodities Platform provides validation by an independent third party, provides
natural gas or natural gas attributes capable of bilateral or exchange contract
trading pursuant to standardized contracts for physical delivery that reasonably
eliminate validation risk, and provides transparency for audit and reporting
purposes.
			&#8220;Supplemental or substitute forms of gas sources&#8221; means (i)
low-emission natural gas, (ii) biogas, or (iii) hydrogen.

C. In addition, the Commission shall establish a fuel price index in order to
compare the prices paid for the various types of fuel by Virginia utilities with
the average price of the various types of fuel paid by other public utilities at
comparable geographic locations in the market.

D. This section shall not apply to telephone companies.

HISTORY: 1976, c. 507; 1982, c. 107; 2011, cc. 738, 740; 2022, cc. 728, 759.