1. Virginia’s Community Solar Program
Virginia’s Shared Solar Program offers customers the ability to subscribe to off-site solar projects and receive credits on their utility bills. Established by the Virginia General Assembly in 2020, the program originally applied only to Dominion Energy’s territory. Legislation passed in 2024 expanded the program to include Appalachian Power Company (APCo), with Dominion’s program expanded to 350 MW and APCo’s to an introductory 50 MW. As of October 2025, 52 projects have been awarded capacity in Dominion’s territory, out of which 18 are operational. The new APCo program has awarded capacity to 10 projects.
2. Program Details & Project Requirements
- Max Project Size: 5 MW AC
- Program Length: 25 years
- Minimum Subscribers: 3 per project
- Max Subscription Size: 60% of project capacity
- Anchor Capacity: Up to 60% per project (no limit on number of anchor customers)
- Small Subscriber Requirement: 40% of project capacity must be subscribed in increments of 25 kW or less
- Rooftop Solar Participation: Customers may not participate in rooftop solar and shared solar simultaneously
- Multiple Subscriptions: Allowed (However, aggregate subscription size must not exceed annual usage)
- Location restrictions: Both projects and subscribers must be located within the same utility service territory
3. Low-Income Requirements and Eligibility
Projects designated as “low-income shared solar facilities” must allocate 30% of their capacity to low-income (LMI) subscribers, i.e., households earning less than 80% of area median income (AMI), as defined by HUD.
- Enrollment Rules: Credit checks are prohibited for residential subscribers
- Minimum Bill Exemption: LMI subscribers in Dominion’s territory are exempt from the minimum bill. Note that APCo LMI subscribers are not exempt.
4. Incentives, Billing & Credit Mechanisms
- Credit Value: Set annually by the State Corporation Commission (SCC), varies by utility rate class
- Timing of Bill Credit: Must be applied within two billing cycles of generation
- Customer Credit Banking: Bill credits exceeding the customer’s usage (minus the minimum bill) roll over to the next billing cycle up to 12 months
- Host Credit Banking: Unallocated credits remain with the subscriber organization at full value; reallocation required annually
- REC Ownership: Remains with the project owner or subscriber organization unless contractually transferred
- Allocation Updates: Subscriber organizations must submit allocation changes monthly
5. Customer Protections & Contract Requirements
Subscriber organizations must provide each customer with clear and transparent contract terms, including:
- A good faith estimate of the annual kilowatt-hours (kWh) to be delivered;
- A plain-language explanation of how bill credits are calculated;
- Terms for contract transfer, termination, and costs;
- A clear explanation of anticipated financial benefits and any associated risks
6. Minimum Bill Requirements
Following the passage of HB106, SCC launched a proceeding to recalculate the minimum bill which had historically constrained project development. . In November 2025, APCo filed their minimum bill methodology, and in December Dominion filed their updated minimum bill using the same methodology, as required by SCC. Dominion’s update is a substantial improvement and is expected to unlock additional project development. The updated minimum bill methodologies are as follows:
- Dominion Energy:
- Dominion applies a minimum bill charge of standard basic customer charge + $1/month admin fee + (subscribed kWh or actual usage, min) × (per-kWh rate derived from distribution charges + distribution riders + transmission charges + transmission riders + non-bypassable charges).
- The minimum bill charge is offset by subscribed kWh × Shared Solar Benefits Credit (transmission benefit) @ –1.40570¢/kWh, and in Part II further offset by the REC compliance benefit.
- LMI subscribers are exempt.
- APCo:
- As of October 1, 2025, APCo applies a minimum bill charge of standard basic customer charge + $1/month admin fee + (subscribed kWh or actual usage, min) × (base distribution + distribution rider + transmission rider + non-bypassable generation charges).
- The minimum bill charge is offset by subscribed kWh × benefit credits (shifted transmission, ancillary services, REC).
- LMI subscribers are not exempt.
7. Application Requirements
To be approved as a Subscriber Organization in Virginia, the following must be submitted to the utility:
- Valid license or exemption notice from the Virginia SCC
- Completed Subscriber Organization Registration Agreement
- Interconnection Agreement
- Signed Coordination Agreement
- Submit documents to: sharedsolar@dominionenergy.com
8. Market Analysis
Virginia’s program demonstrates many best practices, such as a strong low-income carve-out, ban on credit checks, flexible subscription rules and utility consolidated billing. The inclusion of APCo as a second utility expands access, but the lack of minimum bill exemption parity has severely hindered equitable growth. The minimum bill requirement effectively makes it cost prohibitive for any non-LMI customer and particularly commercial customers to participate in the program. Additionally, the consolidated billing program only remits payments to project owners after a customer has made payments to the utility in full, thereby failing to derisk community solar development and passing on all collections risk from the utilities to community solar providers. Lastly, the implementation of the billing and crediting process is complex and creates many manual workarounds for providers. More importantly, the current utility billing system is incompatible for customers on budget billing, which precludes a significant portion of LMI customers from participating in the program.
Clarifying subscription stacking and streamlining LMI eligibility verification would support greater market participation. Previous efforts to eliminate or restructure the minimum bill through legislation have failed. Until the minimum bill and the billing and crediting issues are resolved the Shared Solar program will struggle to reach its full potential.
Appendix
Source: Virginia SCC, Map of Electric Service Companies)
10.R esources
- Virginia Shared Solar Program Overview (SCC): https://www.scc.virginia.gov/
- Dominion Energy Shared Solar Portal: https://www.dominionenergy.com/shared-solar
- Appalachian Power Company Shared Solar Portal: https://www.appalachianpower.com/clean-energy/renewable/solar/shared-solar-program
- Enabling Legislation:
- VA Code § 56-594.3
- VA Code § 56-594.4
