RICHMOND — The State Corporation Commission (SCC) has approved a request by Dominion Virginia Power to construct and operate a power plant and electric transmission facilities in Warren County. A rate rider will take effect on April 1 to begin recovering the cost of the $1.1 billion dollar project.

The Warren County Power Station will be a 1,329 megawatt natural gas-fired combined cycle generation facility. It will be built on a 39-acre site in the Warren Industrial Park approximately three miles north of Front Royal. The facility is expected to be operational by December 2014.

In its final order, the Commission found that, “the project” … including a 900-foot, 500-kilovolt transmission line and a switching station … “will serve the public convenience and necessity and are in the public interest.”

Under Virginia law, a utility company is allowed to recover certain costs during construction. For this project, recovery will be accomplished through a rate rider, identified as Rider W, beginning on April 1, 2012. The rider is expected to produce approximately $34 million dollars in annual revenue.

With the addition of Rider W, the monthly bill of an average residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity a month will increase by approximately 65 cents.

Rider W will be reviewed annually and modified, as necessary, by future orders of the Commission.

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Case Number PUE-2011-00042
View Final Order