Dominion Virginia Power is getting the message — at last it’s taking substantive steps to promote conservation and energy efficiency. The power company has asked the State Corporation Commission for permission to bring to Virginia a number of strategies implemented successfully in other states. A series of programs would:

• Enroll 4,000 residential customers in four different energy-saving pilots that would (a) control air-conditioning during peak-demand times, (b) inform consumers about their real-time energy consumption patterns, (c) promote programmable thermostats that allow customers to control their use of electricity, and (d) educate customers about the value of reducing energy use during peak-demand times.
• Provide free energy audits and energy efficiency kits to 250 existing residential customers and 50 small commercial customers.
• Incentivize large commercial, industrial and non-residential customers to reduce load during periods of peak demand, by using their generators, to produce up to 100 megawatts of electricity. This would supplement an existing program in which large commercial and industrial customers already reduce demand by 275 megawatts during peak-demand periods.

Additionally, in partnership with Home Depot, Dominion will distribute 1.4 million energy-saving compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) at significantly discounted prices. CFLs cut energy usage by 75 percent.

These initiatives, which are expected to begin early next year and continue through 2009, are designed to complement efforts by the SCC to determine the feasibility of reducing electrical consumption by 10 percent by 2022 — a target established by the Virginia General Assembly in electric utility re-regulation legislation adopted earlier this year.

Said Dominion CEO Thomas F. Farrell II in a prepared statement: “These pilots will gather valuable information about what customers are willing to do and what programs may be most effective in achieving sustainable energy savings. … It is important that our company learn as much as possible through implementation of the pilots so that we can design programs with the greatest customer satisfaction, market participation and energy savings.”

Some people will never be satisfied with anything that Dominion does. But this looks to me like a good indication that attitudes within the Dominion hierarchy are changing. The SCC is exceedingly cautious and won’t implement any conservation measure without testing it first, so there is no avoiding the pilot test phase. Unless I see evidence to the contrary, I presume that Dominion will implement the tests in good faith.

While these pilot programs are a very big step in the right direction, they hardly begin to exhaust the conservation possibilities. For starters: Dominion should be working with Northern Virginia technology groups to phase in more energy-efficient computers at the energy-hogging server farms that are so ubiquitous in the region. (A Dominion spokesman told me that another 23 server farms are on the drawing boards!) We don’t need to pioneer anything — just follow the lead established by California tech companies. Question: Where is the Northern Virginia Technology Council on this? This program would be a natural for that group.

Another option: Reform SCC regulations to allow Dominion to earn a favorable rate on investments made in energy efficiency. By energy efficiency, I refer to improvements that enable the company to squeeze more electricity from the same number of BTUs expended in coal- and gas-fired plants, and to waste less electricity in transmission and distribution. My understanding — and I’m willing to stand corrected — is that Virginia does not treat such investments as favorably as investments in new generating capacity. We can’t blame Dominion for neglecting these investments if they don’t make an adequate return. If we need to change the rules to change Dominion’s behavior, let’s change the rules.

Of course, these measures don’t even touch the realm of renewable energy sources. Much remains to be done. But Dominion should be commended for moving as far as it has. Clearly, the terms of debate are changing. No longer will Virginia meet its electricity needs solely through adding capacity. Now the state will seek a balance between conservation/energy efficiency/renewable fuels on the one hand and investments in power plants and transmission lines on the other. Once we’ve established that principle, it’s a matter of finding the right balance.