$2 million grant for Richlands energy project that's supposed to save residents $1,500

Photo bySteven Little (CC BY-NC 2.0)

Richlands was awarded $2 million for an energy project that’s supposed to substantially lower residents’ energy bills.

Richlands is a town that owns and operates an electric utility, which serves roughly 2,500 people. Currently, Richlands claims to be purchasing energy from American Municipal Power at wholesale rates and providing it to customers “at very competitive rates.”

In recent years, residents beg to differ on the claim of competitive rates. In 2022, News Channel 11 did a segment titled “Richland residents furious over expensive utility rates” after rates jumped 20% in two years.

“We’re running businesses out, running residents out. We have people who are getting their electricity and water turned off because they can’t afford to pay such high rates. And everybody mirrored that and just told the council how we can’t survive this way,” said Laura Mollo who, at that time, was speaking as a resident.

Mollo has since become a member of Richlands Town Council. In a January 2024 Facebook post, she said people had been searching for answers about the high electricity costs for a long time. And it was discovered that “our transmission costs are killing us.”

“It doesn't matter what we do with the rates, those transmission costs are just eating us alive. Those costs are based on how much electricity we are using… One way to reduce (reduce, not eliminate) the transmission cost is by generating our own electricity,” Mollo said.

Enter the $2 million award for Richlands that Virginia Energy recently announced.

Those funds will go toward the construction of a natural gas fired turbine and generator. This micro powerplant is supposed to generate 5 MW of electricity. According to Virginia Energy, that’s enough to supply all Richlands’ current customers.

And according to Governor Glenn Youngkin, “This project makes energy more affordable by saving the average town resident $1,500 each year.”

The $2 million was awarded from the Abandoned Mine Land Economic Revitalization (AMLER) grant program. Richlands applied for the funds due to the recent rate increases.

“With rates expected to increase within the next five years, we knew we had to do something for our citizens and businesses,” said Richlands Town Manager Jason May. “We saw an opportunity in the AMLER funding to help us make our vision a reality and we are grateful for this resource that will help us keep energy affordable in our town.”

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