Commercial, Regulation, Sourcing Renewables  -  March 1, 2019

Virginia denies Walmart aggregation petition

The State Corporation Commission of Virginia has denied a petition by Walmart to aggregate 164 store locations in the state in order to purchase renewable energy from third-party suppliers because it would shift a financial burden to remaining customers.

The Commission’s filing stated that “given the context of a decade of rising rates and the likelihood of even higher rates in the future, we do not find it consistent with the public interest for captive customers who do not have the legal ability to obtain lower rates — predominantly residential and small business — to suffer from the cost-shifting identified herein by enabling a large-demand customer to seek its power supply elsewhere through aggregation.”

Walmart filed the request in December 2017 to aggregate 120 retail locations currently served by Virginia Electric and Power Company (Dominion) and 44 locations served by Appalachian Power Company. The Commission’s filing noted that approving this aggregated retail choice for Walmart in Appalachian’s service territory could shift approximately $4 million of costs to remaining customers over the next 10 years and shift a total of $65 million in Dominion’s area over the same period.

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