Virginia SB 255: Electric utilities; shared solar programs, Phase I Utility.

Bill Text

2026 SESSION

INTRODUCED

26104619D

SENATE BILL NO. 255

Offered January 14, 2026

Prefiled January 12, 2026

A BILL to amend and reenact § 56-594.4 of the Code of Virginia, relating to electric utilities; shared solar programs; Phase I Utility.

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Patron—Surovell

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Referred to Committee on Commerce and Labor

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Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That § 56-594.4 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:

§ 56-594.4. Shared solar programs; Phase I Utility.

A. As used in this section:

"Administrative cost" means the reasonable incremental cost to the investor-owned utility to process subscribers' bills for the program.

"Applicable bill credit rate" means the dollar-per-kilowatt-hour rate used to calculate the subscriber's bill credit.

"Bill credit" means the monetary value of the electricity, in kilowatt-hours, generated by the shared solar facility allocated to a subscriber to offset that subscriber's electricity bill.

"Dual-use agricultural facility" means agricultural production and electricity production from solar photovoltaic panels occurring simultaneously on the same property.

"Gross bill" means the amount that a customer would pay to the utility based on the customer's monthly energy consumption before any bill credits are applied.

"Incremental cost" means any cost directly caused by the implementation of the shared solar program that would not have occurred absent the implementation of the shared solar program.

"Minimum bill" means an amount determined by the Commission under subsection D that a subscriber is required to, at a minimum, pay on the subscriber's utility bill each month after accounting for any bill credits.

"Net bill" means the resulting amount a customer must pay the utility after deducting the bill credit from the customer's monthly gross bill.

"Phase I Utility" has the same meaning as provided in subdivision A 1 of § 56-585.1.

"Shared solar facility" means a facility that:

1. Generates electricity by means of a solar photovoltaic device with a nameplate capacity rating that does not exceed 5,000 kilowatts of alternating current;

2. Is interconnected with the distribution system of an investor-owned electric utility within the Commonwealth;

3. Has at least three subscribers;

4. Has at least 40 percent of its capacity subscribed by customers with subscriptions of 25 kilowatts or less; and

5. Is located on a single parcel of land.

"Shared solar program" or "program" means the program created through the adoption of rules to allow for the development of shared solar facilities.

"Subscriber" means a retail customer of a utility that (i) owns one or more subscriptions of a shared solar facility that is interconnected with the utility and (ii) receives service in the service territory of the same utility in whose service territory the shared solar facility is interconnected.

"Subscriber organization" means any for-profit or nonprofit entity that owns or operates one or more shared solar facilities. A subscriber organization shall not be considered a utility solely as a result of its ownership or operation of a shared solar facility. A subscriber organization licensed with the Commission shall be eligible to own or operate shared solar facilities in more than one investor-owned utility service territory.

"Subscription" means a contract or other agreement between a subscriber and the owner of a shared solar facility. A subscription shall be sized such that the estimated bill credits do not exceed the subscriber's average annual bill for the customer account to which the subscription is attributed.

"Utility" means a Phase I Utility.

B. The Commission shall establish by regulation a program that affords customers of a Phase I Utility the opportunity to participate in shared solar projects. Under its shared solar program, a the utility shall provide a bill credit for the proportional output of a shared solar facility attributable to that subscriber. The shared solar program shall be administered as follows:

1. The value of the bill credit for the subscriber shall be calculated by multiplying the subscriber's portion of the kilowatt-hour electricity production from the shared solar facility by the applicable bill credit rate for the subscriber. Any amount of the bill credit that exceeds the subscriber's monthly bill, minus the minimum bill, shall be carried over and applied to the next month's bill.

2. The utility shall provide bill credits to a shared solar facility's subscribers for not less than 25 years from the date the shared solar facility becomes commercially operational.

3. The subscriber organization shall, on a monthly basis and in a standardized electronic format, and pursuant to guidelines established by the Commission, provide to the utility a subscriber list indicating the percentage of shared solar generation capacity attributable to each of the subscribers participating in a shared solar facility in