She was right. Here’s why:
Gov.-elect Spanberger's affordability plan is going to be electric
Op-Ed by Victoria Higgins, CCAN Action Fund’s Virginia Director, initially published in Richmond Times Dispatch.
Abigail Spanberger’s ride to the governor’s mansion was electric. Literally. The governor-elect’s commanding more than 15-point victory was built on a campaign that promised to bring stability to everyday costs, not least of which our electric bills. Her policy memo on energy affordability reflected a belief that renewables are cheaper, cleaner and faster to connect to the grid.
According to a recent report, in 2024, 91% of newly commissioned utility-scale renewable projects cost less per kWh than even the least-expensive new fossil-fuel options. Every year, the highly respected financial advisory and asset management company Lazard — not some lefty loonies with a green agenda — puts out a report detailing the Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE), or what the all-in cost is to produce electricity from a variety of different resources.
Looking at the 2025 report, utility-scale solar has an unsubsidized LCOE as low as $38/megawatt-hour (MWh), and onshore wind ranges from $37-$86/MWh, while a new combined-cycle natural gas plant is $48-$107/MWh. In fact, the cost to build new gas-fired (combined cycle) generation has reached a 10-year high with no relief in sight as supply chain issues delay turbine production, making renewables even more cost-competitive in the near future.
As for when the sun doesn’t shine and the wind doesn’t blow? The story is even better for clean energy. Gas peakers, which respond to spikes in demand, are more than twice as expensive as solar-charged battery storage, which serves the exact same function of dispatching energy when demand is high or other generation is low. That number is one reason why residents statewide are worked up about Dominion Energy’s plan to build an enormous $4.5 billion gas peaker in Chesterfield — and that’s the price without billions in lifetime fuel costs.
It should be acknowledged that electricity costs are a big fight to pick, because there is a hodgepodge of local, state, regional, national and global forces at play. Each of these layers of influence offers a level of risk as conditions and market forces change. In fact, one of the best ways to promote price stability and avoid rate hikes is to insulate ratepayers from shifting global and national markets by reducing our reliance on things with shifting costs — things such as oil, gas and coal. Clean energy can be produced right here in Virginia with zero fuel costs — meaning that a clean energy portfolio is vastly more stable than one wrapped up in volatile fossil fuel costs, which are heavily affected by things like wars and pandemics.
So let’s summarize. Clean energy is cheaper than fossil fuels, and its costs are more stable. Renewables come with zero emissions, making them cleaner and better for our health and planet than fossil fuels. And clean energy is faster to connect to the grid than fossil fuels, meaning it’s a better tool to respond to our regional grid operators’ energy crunch — itself a major driver of electricity costs.
If you’re like me, you want the lights to turn on when you flip the switch, and you don’t want to be shocked when you see your electric bill. If that’s the case, then you, like me, should get excited about the governor-elect’s energy affordability plan. It’s going to be electric.
Op-Ed by Victoria Higgins, CCAN Action Fund’s Virginia Director, initially published in Richmond Times Dispatch.
About the author: Victoria Higgins is the Virginia Director for CCAN Action Fund. Her career in environmental advocacy began with Green Corps, a rigorous training program for environmental organizers.
She worked on campaigns with Mighty Earth, Conservation Colorado, and Environment Virginia to hold corporate polluters accountable, pass state climate policy, and limit plastic pollution in Virginia’s waterways.
She received a Master of Science in Energy Policy and Climate at Johns Hopkins University.
