RICHMOND, Va., Aug. 2, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Dominion Virginia Power, a subsidiary of Dominion (NYSE: D), today received permission from the Virginia State Corporation Commission to construct a 1,358-megawatt, natural gas fueled power station near Lawrenceville in Brunswick County.

The combined cycle, natural gas-fired power station will serve growing customer demand and replace electricity from aging coal-fired power stations that are being retired for economic and environmental reasons.

"The Brunswick Power Station will produce significant customer benefits in helping to keep power costs low and reliability high," said Thomas F. Farrell II, Dominion's chairman, president and chief executive officer. "It also will benefit Virginia in terms of cleaner air and providing a major economic boost for the region."

Dominion plans to start construction immediately with commercial service expected to begin in the summer of 2016.

The total cost of the station is $1.3 billion. During the development and construction period, the station will generate about $824 million in economic benefits for the state, according to a study done for Dominion. Over the course of construction the workforce will average about 380 workers annually. Once complete, the station will provide 43-full time, permanent jobs and pay about $4 million a year in local property taxes.

The commission also approved a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity for transmission interconnection facilities needed to tie the station to the gird and a rate adjustment clause, Rider BW, which will allow the company to recover costs of the project. The initial increase in the monthly bill of a typical residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity would be 81 cents, effective Sept. 1, 2013.

The transmission facilities include a 13.5-mile long 500kv transmission line that will connect the station to an existing transmission line.

In the first full year of the station's operation Dominion expects there will be fuel savings of about $96 million. Those fuel savings will continue over time. In addition, the station is expected to save customers an additional $1 billion over its expected life compared with the next-best option for supplying power.

Dominion is one of the nation's largest producers and transporters of energy, with a portfolio of approximately 27,000 megawatts of generation. Dominion operates one of the nation's largest natural gas storage systems and serves retail energy customers in 15 states. For more information about Dominion, visit the company's website at www.dom.com.

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SOURCE Dominion Virginia Power