Shortly before Christmas, on December 23, 2008, the Virginia State Corporation Commission approved the Virginia Natural Gas conservation and ratemaking efficiency plan. Under this program, a host of new energy conservation programs will be implemented coupled with a revenue adjustment mechanism that is designed to encourage and assist the management of energy costs by consumers. The $6.6 million plan, provided by VNG over the course of three years, will go towards new initiatives to scale up conservation.
This is tremendously exciting in the world of energy efficiency and decoupling advocacy as Virginia has embraced efforts that have been underway for quite some time in California and the Northeast. Virginia should be praised for its progressive stance on this issue. One can only hope that neighboring states (specifically those on the left), the south and the middle of the country will continue to follow their lead.

To visually appreciate the decoupling and energy efficiency movement in the United States, please review the map below...