How Virginia’s Investor-owned Utilities are Bridging the Digital Divide
Virginia’s investor-owned utilities are empower broadband connectivity in unserved and underserved parts of the Commonwealth. Both Dominion Energy Virginia and Appalachian Power are pursuing innovative projects that will not only improve the reliability and resilience of their electricity systems, but also bring broadband to parts of the Commonwealth not served by traditional telecommunications companies.
How are they doing this? Virginia policymakers have implemented new laws permitting its investor-owned utilities to determine whether and how they can bring broadband to unserved and underserved parts of their service territories.
In response, both utilities have taken different approaches to partner with local providers and/or fellow utilities to bring broadband to these locations. Written case studies about both projects are available here:
UTC held a webinar in May 2020 featuring executives from both utilities and their partners to describe their programs. A highlight reel of the webinar, broken down into snippets the most relevant parts of the discussion, is available below.
