2026 SESSION

HOUSE SUBSTITUTE

26106479D

HOUSE BILL NO. 472

AMENDMENT IN THE NATURE OF A SUBSTITUTE

(Proposed by the House Committee on Public Safety

on January 30, 2026)

(Patron Prior to Substitute—Delegate Feggans)

A BILL to establish a resilience hub pilot program to assist vulnerable communities during emergency situations.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. § 1. The Department of Energy, in consultation with the Department of Emergency Management shall, in coordination with a Phase II Utility, initiate a two-year pilot program designed to establish up to three resilience hubs per year in targeted, vulnerable communities, including those with high percentages of low-income or disabled persons, the elderly, and other persons for whom evacuation during an emergency situation is difficult and who may have few alternatives. No more than one resilience hub may be established in any single planning district and only planning districts located within the exclusive service territory established by the State Corporation Commission for a Phase II Utility are eligible resilience hub host sites. The Phase II Utility shall own the battery storage associated with each resilience hub and shall petition the State Corporate Commission to recover costs associated with such battery storage pursuant to subsection D of § 56-585.5. A Phase II Utility may utilize battery storage associated with such resilience hubs for peak-shaving during times of peak electric demand when a resilience hub is not actively in use due to an emergency or otherwise. Battery storage owned and operated by a Phase II Utility pursuant to this act may count toward the maximum total distributed energy resources established in the virtual power plant pilot program pursuant to § 56-585.1:16.

For purposes of this act:

"Emergency" means the same as that term is defined in § 44-146.16.

"Phase II Utility" means the same as that term is defined in subdivision A 1 of § 56-585.1.

"Planning district" means the same as that term is defined in § 15.2-4202.

"Resilience hub" means a simple combination of solar panels and batteries that ensures continuous power to a publicly accessible building when severe weather events or other grid disruptions cause an electrical outage.