Apr. 20, 2022
Dear Secretary Vanessa Countryman, Thank you for taking the important step of proposing required rules to ensure investors and the U.S. private sector are prepared to adapt to and respond to the challenges that come with a changing climate. Most Virginians are captive customers in Virginia’s monopoly energy system and do not have a choice about where and how their energy is produced. This becomes especially problematic as increasingly unpredictable weather patterns and storms threaten our electricity infrastructure. Just this winter, Virginians experienced historic power outages after a series of winter storms; many families were left for days without power. Without reliable public assessments of climate risks to our electric utilities, we will be left unprepared for the massive disruptions to our energy infrastructure that will come with climate change. Rules like the ones the Securities Exchange Commission is proposing empower me as a consumer with consistent and reliable information about how Virginia’s investor-owned utilities are preparing for climate risks to the infrastructure that powers our homes and communities. Patricia Derrough