Going Green With Dominion?

Talk about screwy priorities!

Today we signed up for Dominion's "Green Power" program, which is finally available in Virginia. Dominion, like many other utilities, offers this program whereby you agree to pay a little bit more on your electric bill and it will be used to support expansion of renewable energy.

We're all for that, but it really shows you what kind of country we are. Why not charge more for "Dirty Power," like coal, and less for green power? Yes, we know the anwer.

While it makes us feel good to sign up for Green Power, we still have our suspicions. Just what is Dominion doing with that extra money? What if they decide that a new, cleaner coal plant is "green." Or they invest in "clean coal?" We wouldn't like that too much.

What's really needed is legislation to restructure the incentives Dominion and other electric utilities have. California has been quite successful in incentivizing its utilities to invest in conservation. The concept is simple: let the utility make money off conservation. As it stands, Dominion makes money by selling more electricity, building more plants and adding new transmission lines.

Green Power is a small step in the right direction, but bigger steps are needed.