Dominion Energy Virginia wants to partner with internet service providers to cut the cost of extending broadband services to rural Virginia, beginning with pilot projects that include Surry County.
The idea is to use the fiber optic lines Dominion is installing along power lines across the state as part of a modernization of its grid, to create a kind of backbone for internet service providers, said company president Ed Baine.
The company is seeking approval from the State Corporation Commission for its pilot. Part of the cost would be borne by all rate-payers, amounting to 3 cents a month for a typical residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt-hours.
Fiber lines allow Dominion to monitor and manage equipment that controls the flow of electricity without necessarily sending crews out to check on problems. Minute-by-minute control of transformers, switches, substations and, eventually, battery facilities will be essential as more and more electricity is generated with solar panels or wind turbines, which operate intermittently.
For internet service providers, which have said it is too costly building fiber optic networks to reach relatively small numbers of rural Virginians, Dominion’s program could represent a cost savings.
“For us, when we’re stringing 72 strands of fiber anyway, stringing another 24 or 72 isn’t that much extra cost, but for an ISP to go out and do it, it’s a bigger expense,” Baine said.
“It means the dollars they have will go farther,” he added.
The Surry pilot will involve installing 43 miles of fiber, and Prince George Electric Cooperative’s RURALBAND internet service provider subsidiary would build from that to connect 3,500 to 4,000 homes and businesses to broadband services. the cost of this work will be $3.6 million
In addition, Dominion’s pilots would install 217 miles of fiber infrastructure on the Northern Neck and 32 miles in Botetourt County.
The cost of all three pilots is $29 million.
In its bid for SCC approval, Dominion told the commission that 500,000 Virginians do not have easy access to high-speed internet service, adding that the company “is in a unique position to help bridge the digital gap.”
Baine said the pandemic, with the challenges rural students have connecting to online classes and material, the need for more telemedicine services and the difficulties rural residents face working from home, show that lack of broadband service is a major problem.
“Everybody agrees about that,” he said. “We just want to do our part.”
Dave Ress, 757-247-4535, dress@dailypress.com
