HB 1323

This bill allows Virginia's major electric utilities (American Electric Power and Dominion Energy Virginia) to recover costs associated with developing small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) from their customers through rate adjustments, even before these reactors are built or operational. The legislation permits these utilities to petition the State Corporation Commission at any time for approval to charge customers for SMR development expenses—including evaluation, design, engineering, licensing, environmental permitting, construction, and financing costs—and to seek recovery in separate phases as the project progresses. While the Commission retains authority to determine whether these costs are reasonable and prudent, the bill enables utilities to pass development costs to ratepayers during the planning and construction stages rather than waiting until the SMRs are actually generating electricity, effectively having customers fund the upfront investment and risk of these nuclear projects.