Northam pushes for overdue electric bill forgiveness

RICHMOND, Va. (AP)- Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam wants Dominion Energy to forgive unpaid residential electric bills by taking $320 million that regulators say the company previously overcharged.

The governor is pushing for new budget language requiring the state’s largest electric monopoly to return most of the $503 million that state regulators recently said Dominion had earned above authorized levels in 2017 through 2019. That provision is part of a broader effort by Northam to ban customer disconnections over unpaid utility bills during the coronavirus pandemic.

Dominion declined to comment.

Under the plan, customers with bills that are more than 60 days overdue as of Sept. 30 would have them forgiven.

Locally, A&N Electric Cooperative announced it would waive disconnections and related fees for residential members until Governor Ralph Northam rescinds the current state of emergency, but not outright bill forgiveness.

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