This text was taken from an email alert sent out on November 24, 2025. Sign up for email alerts →
Dear Supporter,
I’m reaching out today to tell you about three things:
- an important opportunity to fight a Dominion proposal that would undermine small-scale solar, like rooftop and parking lot solar;
- to invite you to tune into an upcoming webinar, Monday, Dec. 8, to better understand Dominion’s proposal and why it matters; and
- to check out our new report: The Value of Distributed Solar in Virginia: A Framework for Fair Net-Metering Compensation.
Net Metering is a Critical Piece to a More Distributed Energy System
We believe small-scale, distributed solar, like on rooftops, parking lots, brownfields and dual-use agrivoltaics, must be part of Virginia’s energy picture, especially because they help protect our working farmland and open spaces while also bringing clean energy to the grid much faster than large-scale solar.
Net metering is a billing arrangement whereby rooftop solar owners who produce more energy than they use, receive a 1:1 credit on their electric bill for excess energy that is sent back to the grid [see below for more on how this works]. It is the fundamental billing structure that makes small-scale solar economically viable for homeowners, farmers and businesses.
However, in May 2025, Dominion Energy petitioned the State Corporation Commission to cut the net metering credit by nearly half. Why? Because monopoly utilities like Dominion make maximum revenue from centralized generation — like gas plants and large-scale solar — and energy infrastructure like transmission lines. Motivated by profits, Dominion’s tremendous lobbying pressure has been a longstanding and powerful force against efforts to create a more distributed grid.
Unfortunately, Dominion’s proposed change will severely undermine the practicality of rooftop solar for many people and critically hamper increased distributed energy generation and energy independence at a time when Virginia is importing more energy than ever and more than any other state, and skyrocketing data center energy demands are straining the grid.
The State Corporation Commission will issue a formal decision on Dominion’s proposed change next year, with public comment opportunities closing in January. The Piedmont Environmental Council (PEC) is serving as an “intervenor” in this case, joining our partners, challenging Dominion’s arguments, posing questions and offering additional information that can be used in the SCC’s decision.
We hope you’ll join us in pushing back against Dominion’s proposal.
Take Action: Tell the SCC to Keep Fair Net Metering Structures in Place
Please take a few minutes to submit comments to the Virginia State Corporation Commission in support of small-scale solar. Homeowners, farmers and local business owners should have affordable access to energy independence and should be compensated fairly for energy they send back to the grid.
Your written comments can be submitted on the SCC’s website now through Jan. 13. You also have the option of speaking remotely at the evidentiary hearing on Jan. 20. Sign up online using the case number PUR-2025-00079.
Your comments can be simple—ask the SCC to keep the current net metering structure in place—or more detailed, using your takeaways from personal experience or our commissioned report referenced below.
How Net Metering Works
If you have a rooftop solar installation on your property, when the sun is shining, the energy your panels produce is directly powering your home. Any excess energy that cannot be used in that moment goes back into the greater grid, and you get full credit for each unit produced.
The credit is automatically applied later, perhaps to your evening usage or in the winter months when there is less sun. Those credits are good for an entire year. This is how solar installations “pay for themselves” over time and what makes small-scale solar financially accessible for people.
Webinar: Why Dominion is Trying to Kill Small-Scale Solar (and what you can do about it)
Monday, Dec. 8 | 7-8 p.m. ET
Register for this free webinar
Join staff from The Piedmont Environmental Council as we talk more about net metering and the fight for a more distributed energy framework in Virginia.
For more information about the Value of Solar report or PEC’s energy work, contact Ashish Kapoor at [email protected].
And interested in learning more about agrivoltaics, a growing form of distributed generation? Join Virginia Cooperative Extension, Virginia Tech, Virginia Department of Energy, PEC and others for a different webinar on Friday, Dec. 5.
PEC Report Finds Distributed Solar Far Exceeds Value Communicated by Dominion
As part of PEC’s efforts to advocate for distributed energy solutions, we commissioned a study to calculate the actual value of distributed solar generation in Dominion Energy’s territory, factoring in the range of benefits such as land conservation, connecting clean energy quickly, and mitigating new transmission and generation impacts that the utility has not accounted for in its proposed cuts to net metering values.
The report, written to be relevant and readable, demonstrates that small-scale, customer-sited solar delivers substantial value that far exceeds what is currently acknowledged by Dominion in its proposed net metering cuts.
By valuing distributed energy fully and fairly, the Commonwealth is more likely to continue meaningful investment in these resources that can play an increasingly important role in meeting Virginia’s energy needs in a reliable, affordable and sustainable way. Read more about the report →
We’ll keep you updated as the SCC deliberates on the net metering case in early 2026 and let you know about other chances to support small-scale solar in the upcoming General Assembly legislative session in Richmond starting in mid-January.
In the meantime, I encourage you to check out a new video we just released about our agrivoltaics demonstration project at PEC’s Community Farm. Agrivoltaics is the practice of producing food and solar energy on the same plot of land. Like solar on rooftops, parking lots, or brownfields, it is a form of distributed generation that could be another important solution to Virginia’s growing energy challenges.
Sincerely,
Ashish Kapoor
Senior Energy & Climate Advisor
[email protected]
540-347-2334 x7054
