Broadband-related bills will not increase utility rates
A proposed broadband-related bill in the General Assembly should not mean higher utility rates for Rappahannock region residents a er a local electric cooperative reached an agreement with internet providers.
The bill, HB 800, would require electric cooperatives and internet service providers to negotiate certain utility costs, specifically for pole attachments needed to expand ber-tohome broadband, but is not projected to impact customers’ rates.
O cials at Rappahannock Electric Cooperative (REC) have told the Rappahannock News that the bills could cost the cooperative millions of dollars — but REC spokesperson Casey Hollins attested to the ongoing conversations between co- ops and ISPs.
REC is working with several internet service providers, including All Points Broadband and Firefly, to help bring ber connections to people’s homes across its service territory. Internet service providers across the state have been working with electric cooperatives to expand broadband access using state funding awarded last year.
“We were able to work with ISPs to reach a compromise on both the House and Senate versions of the bill, which mitigated the original bill language that would have shifted ISP construction costs onto our members and other rural electric ratepayers across Virginia,” Hollins wrote in an email to the Capital News Service. “The amended bills remove harm to Cooperatives and establish some rules of the road for broadband make-ready work in Cooperative territories.”
These compromises include division of costs so as not to burden customers with increased rates. “It took ve weeks of negotiations, but it was exciting to see both the broadband providers and the co- ops trying to reach an agreement for the greater good,” Herring said.
The bill was created with room for compromise to ensure the impacted companies had input, said Del. Charniele Herring (D-Alexandria), the bill’s sponsor.
“Through this compromise bill, the co-op and the broadband providers have come to an agreement about how their expenses are going to be approved for a portion to protect the electric customers,” she said.
HB 800 is identical to Democrat Sen. Dave Marsden’s SB 713, which unanimously passed the House and Senate. Herring’s bill also made it through committee and the House unopposed and is waiting to be heard in the Senate. Marsden did not return multiple requests for comment by the Capital News Service.
According to the bills, co-ops would bear the burden of basic infrastructure upgrades like replacements of old poles, but any adjustments relating speci - cally to broadband would fall under the internet service providers. If there is any circumstance where an agreement can’t be reached, it would be sent to the Virginia State Corporation Commission for review.
Dominion Energy, Herring’s top donor and Marsden’s second-highest, is exempted from the bills because of its long-standing utility status, Herring said.
“It has nothing to do with their support,” Herring said of the company’s political contributions. “It has to do with their unique status as a utility because older services like Dominion, Verizon, have been providing services since before 1900.”
It is oficially classified as a regulated electric utility, meaning that it owns certain electric transmission lines and infrastructures associated with it – adding up to more than 37,000 miles of regulated electric transmission lines across Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Since it owns the infrastructure it relies on, it maintains control over the maintenance costs, unlike the co-ops and most internet service providers.
Dominion o ers its own broadband service through its Rural Broadband Program which, much like the bill, aims to provide high-speed internet access to areas that may lack it, according to its website.
“It is o en too expensive for ISPs to install ber across the long distances that exist between the largest data connections and homes and businesses,” the Dominion website reads. “We can ll that void by using Dominion Energy’s telecommunications network to bridge the gap by making our broadband capacity available to ISPs in unserved communities.”
Dominion representatives did not return multiple requests for comment.
Herring’s bill is awaiting a vote in the Senate. Marsden’s is being sent to Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
Capital News Service is a program of Virginia Commonwealth University's Robertson School of Media and Culture. Students in the program provide state government coverage for a variety of media outlets in Virginia.