RICHMOND, Va. - Dominion Virginia Power, a subsidiary of Dominion (NYSE:D), asked the Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) Tuesday for permission to create new pilots that would test energy efficiency, conservation efforts and demand response and load curtailment initiatives.

In addition, Dominion also announced it will offer 1.4 million energy-saving compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) at significantly discounted prices beginning this fall through 2009. The offer will be made in association with the home improvement retailer Home Depot through its numerous stores in Dominion’s Virginia service area.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), CFLs use about 75 percent less energy and last 10 times longer than traditional incandescent bulbs. The EPA estimates that replacing an incandescent bulb with a CFL can save up to $65 in electricity costs during the bulb’s lifetime.

The CFL program and the energy-saving pilots, which are expected to begin early next year and continue through 2009, are in keeping with the recently issued Virginia Energy Plan and are designed to complement efforts by the SCC to determine the feasibility of reducing electrical consumption by 10 percent by 2022. That target was established by the Virginia General Assembly in electric utility re-regulation legislation adopted earlier this year.

“Energy conservation, efficiency and peak-load management will be an important part of meeting Virginia’s growing need for electricity,” said Thomas F. Farrell II, chairman, president and chief executive officer. “These pilots will gather valuable information about what customers are willing to do and what programs may be most effective in achieving sustainable energy savings.”

“Dominion is committed to a practical and pragmatic approach in meeting its obligation to provide reliable, cost-effective and responsible electricity supplies. In addition to energy conservation programs, this approach includes making substantial investments in additional electric generation facilities and other infrastructure that will provide our customers with a balanced and flexible portfolio of energy resources and that will sustain our state’s strong economic growth,” Farrell said.

The pilots proposed in the filing include:

• Enrolling a total of 4,000 residential customers in four different energy-saving pilots. The pilots are designed to control air-conditioning during peak-demand times, inform consumers about their real-time energy consumption patterns, promote programmable thermostats that allow customers to control their use of electricity, and to educate customers about the value of reducing energy use during peak-demand times.
• Providing free energy audits and energy efficiency kits to 250 existing residential customers and 50 small commercial customers. In addition, 250 new homes will receive energy efficiency welcome kits that include CFL bulbs.
• Providing incentives to large commercial, industrial and non-residential customers to reduce load during periods of peak demand, by using their generators, to produce up to 100 megawatts of electricity. That is enough electricity to power as many as 25,000 residences. This would be in addition to existing Dominion tariff-based options in which large commercial and industrial customers already reduce demand by 275 megawatts during peak-demand periods.

“It is important that our company learn as much as possible through implementation of the pilots so that we can design programs with the greatest customer satisfaction, market participation and energy savings,” Farrell said.

• View a copy of the actual SCC filing.
• View additional energy efficiency information.

Dominion is one of the nation's largest producers of energy, with a portfolio of more than 26,500 megawatts of generation. For more information about Dominion, visit the company's Web site at www.dom.com.

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