Dominion Virginia Power Statement To Include
Customer Choice Information
RICHMOND, Va. – Beginning this month, Dominion Virginia
Power’s monthly statements will feature a new design and begin including information
that will make it easier for consumers to shop for a competitive electricity
supplier.
The information, which is intended to help facilitate a competitive
electricity market, is required on electric bills now that customer choice is
available in parts of Virginia. It includes customers' 12-month electricity
usage history and their individual “price to compare.”
This usage history provides customers with an up-to-date
record of how much electricity they used during the past year at their residences
or businesses.
The “price to compare” is the regulated amount per kilowatt-hour
that customers would pay Dominion Virginia Power for electricity supply service.
It does not include the price for delivery of electricity and other charges
that customers would continue to pay Dominion Virginia Power. Knowing their
"price to compare" allows consumers to shop for electricity among competitive
suppliers.
While all Dominion Virginia Power statements will feature
the new design, the “price to compare” appears only on the bills of those customers
who can choose their electricity supplier now. These are business customers
throughout Virginia, residential customers in Northern Virginia and any customer
who volunteered for Dominion Virginia Power’s pilot program.
Other residential customers will see their "price to compare"
on their bills several months in advance of choice being available in their
area. Central Virginia residential customers will have supplier choice beginning
in September. Tidewater Virginia residential customers will have choice beginning
Jan. 1, 2003.
The "price to compare" will not appear on the bills of customers
served by competitive suppliers, but that information will be available via
an automated, toll-free telephone number or on Dominion's Web site, www.dom.com.
“Our challenge for the new statement was to present
the required information in a user-friendly format,” said Edgar M. Roach Jr.,
president and chief executive officer. “To meet that challenge, we turned to
our customers and conducted six focus groups around the Commonwealth.”
In all six focus groups, customers stressed simplicity. Although
there will be more information on the bill, customers said they wanted the statement
to be one page. Most importantly, they said they wanted the total bill amount,
the due date and their account number displayed prominently.
“Our new statement does a nice job of marrying the
mandated information with customer feedback,” Roach said. “This statement contains
important information that will help consumers make an informed choice when
they receive electricity supply offers.”
An insert in Dominion Virginia Power’s February statements
will explain the key features of the newly formatted bill.
Dominion Virginia
Power is a subsidiary of Dominion (NYSE: D), one of the nation’s largest
producers of energy, with a production capability of more than 3 trillion British
thermal unit of energy per day. Dominion serves nearly 4 million retail natural
gas and electric customers in five states. For more information about Dominion,
visit the company’s Web site at www.dom.com.
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Editors: For a graphic image of the
new statement in JPG format, please call us at (804) 771-6115.
