Dominion Virginia Power Presents Energy Conservation Plan with Significant Environmental...

Dominion Virginia Power Presents Energy Conservation Plan with Significant
Environmental Benefits, Customer Savings
- Carbon dioxide, other emissions to be avoided because of lower energy use

RICHMOND, Va., June 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Dominion Virginia Power
today presented an aggressive energy conservation plan that would produce
significant environmental benefits while providing customers with substantial
cost savings.
"This plan will provide a jump-start toward meeting the 10 percent
conservation goal enacted last year by the Virginia General Assembly and the
governor, getting the Commonwealth more than one-third of the way there within
five years," said David A. Heacock, president of Dominion Virginia Power. "It
will provide significant environmental benefits in a cost-effective manner
that translates into very real financial savings to customers."
The conservation plan is part of Dominion's "Powering Virginia" strategy
to meet the future energy needs of its customers. The plan must be approved
by the Virginia State Corporation Commission. The company hopes to begin
implementing programs next year. Company leadership approved the plan and
related investment last week.
A key component of the plan is the installation of "smart grid"
technologies that will enhance the electric distribution system to meet the
increasing needs and expectations of customers in the 21st Century. The smart
grid will allow energy to be delivered more efficiently and will result in
significant energy savings by allowing more precise control of the energy
flow. Dominion expects to invest about $600 million and replace all of its
existing electric meters with Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI), capable
of two-way communications, as well as additional equipment to monitor and
control the electric distribution system. The resulting fuel savings for
customers will more than offset the cost of the new equipment. The technology
also is expected to lead ultimately to improvements in service reliability and
the ability of customers to monitor and control their electricity use.
Over the next 15 years the plan is expected to result in customer savings
in excess of $1 billion through lower electricity use, avoiding the need for
two future power stations and delaying the need for two others.
However, the demand from Dominion Virginia Power customers for reliable,
around-the-clock electricity that can be provided only by power stations still
exists and is projected to grow by 4,000 megawatts over the next decade. The
company is pursuing a balanced mix of new generating facilities, including
wind and other renewables, emissions-free nuclear, advanced-technology coal
and natural gas. It will also improve transmission and other infrastructure
to ensure continuation of reliable service and maintain the growth of
Virginia's economy.
"This is a significant step toward meeting Virginia's electricity
conservation goal in a way that will deliver real and measurable benefits,"
Heacock said. "We plan to develop additional initiatives aimed at reaching the
full 10 percent goal by the 2022 target in a cost-effective manner."
Along with installing "smart grid" technology, programs in the plan
introduced today include:
-- Incentives for construction of energy-efficient homes that meet the
federal government's Energy Star(R) standards. These homes are at least 15
percent more energy efficient than homes built to regular standards.
-- Incentives for residential and commercial customers to install
energy-efficient lighting. This includes a continuation of Dominion's rebate
program for compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs), which already has resulted
in the sale of more than 1.5 million CFLs.
-- Energy audits and improvements for homes of low-income customers.
-- Incentives for residential customers who enroll voluntarily to allow
the company to cycle their air-conditioners and heat pumps during periods of
peak demand.
-- Power cost monitors that display how much electricity customers are
using and at what cost.
-- Incentives for residential customers to upgrade heat pumps to more
efficient units or have their heat pumps maintained, or "tuned," to run more
efficiently.
-- Incentives for commercial customers to improve the energy efficiency of
their HVAC units and for agreeing to reduce demand during times of peak
consumption.
-- Incentives for a refrigerator turn-in program that will allow
residential customers who have second refrigerators at least 20 years old to
be hauled away and disposed of at no charge.
Recent improvements in electric system management technologies and
incentives for energy efficiency by customers are expected to avoid carbon
dioxide emissions by about 12 million tons over 15 years, compared with what
would have been emitted otherwise. That is the equivalent of removing more
than 130,000 cars from the road. Additional reductions of emissions of sulfur
dioxide, nitrogen oxides and mercury are also expected.
Electricity savings could reach 2.6 million megawatt-hours annually by
2013 under the proposal, equal to the amount of electricity used by 216,000
typical homes.
"This is a great example of Dominion partnering with consumers and sharing
the opportunity to reduce energy demand," said the Rev. Doug Smith, executive
director of the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy. "The efficient
distribution through Dominion's new smart grid will help us all to use
responsibly the resources we share and will help reduce our reliance on fossil
fuels.
"Consumers want to be in control of their energy consumption. That's why
we turn off the lights when we leave the room. Dominion is giving consumers
the tools to allow us to be better stewards of our power consumption and
ultimately God's creation," Smith said.
Additional information will be available when the company files the plan
with the SCC. In addition to these program plans, Dominion is evaluating
other energy conservation and demand reduction initiatives, including new rate
designs to provide better pricing signals to customers, as well as other
emerging technologies that leverage our "smart grid" investment and will allow
customers to better understand and manage the energy costs of individual
appliances such as air conditioners, electric strip heating and water heaters.
These technologies will also support the integration of on-site customer
generation and future plug-in hybrid vehicles.
Dominion Virginia Power is a subsidiary of Dominion (NYSE: D), one of the
nation's largest producers of energy, with a portfolio of approximately 26,500
megawatts of generation. Dominion serves retail energy customers in 11
states. For more information about Dominion and the proposed conservation
program, visit the company's Web site at http://www.dom.com/.
TV News Editors: Satellite Coordinate Information
June 19, 2008
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SOURCE Dominion Virginia Power

Media, David Botkins, +1-804-771-6115, David.B.Botkins@dom.com, or Analysts,
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Snyder, +1-804-819-2383, James.Gregory.Snyder@dom.com, all of Dominion
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