Turning off your air conditioner on the hottest summer days, or running your washer and drier later at night could mean a rebate on your electric bill under the latest round of programs to cut electricity use from Dominion Energy.

The State Corporation Commission has approved five new "demand-side" management programs as well as new bundles of existing plans as elements in the utility's efforts to ease the burden of electric bills, an effort that's also become part of Virginia's push to address climate change.

The idea is that slowing the growth of electric use means utilities will burn less of the natural gas, oil and coal that fuel most of their generating stations and that emit carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, as a waste product. The Virginia Clean Economy Act requires that Dominion cease all carbon emissions by 2045.

Dominion is passing on the cost of the new programs to all its customers, even those who don't participate, which will add 24 cents to a benchmark $125 monthly residential bill for 1,000 kilowatt-hours.

For people who sign up for the new rebate program, switching off appliances during rebate event days could mean an average $28 annual saving on power bills, a Dominion filing with the SCC says.

On those targeted peak use days, participants would get a text message or voicemail alerting them to the possibility of a rebate. As they hasten to turn off appliances or adjust their thermostats, Dominion forecasts they'll cut use by 2.25 kilowatt hours for the 4 hours a typical rebate event would last.

The utility expects to offer about 10 such events a year, and set a goal of 500,000 customers signing up over a five-year period.

While each participant's usage cut may not seem like much, Dominion expects it would save some 278,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity over five years.

On the hottest summer days, it would cut the amount of power flowing through Dominion's wires by 186 megawatts – more than the power produced by two of the four gas- and oil-fired generators at its Darbytown power station.

Over five years, the cost of the rebates would total about $40.9 million.

Dominion's other new programs include rebates on the purchase of energy efficient appliances, such as refrigerators, washers and dryers, freezers, room air conditions and dehumidifiers. This would have a bigger overall savings of electricity use – 150,613 megawatt-hours over five years – at an overall cost of $14.7 million.

It is also proposing a customized energy saving plan for big commercial users – this one could have a still bigger impact, saving 210,357 megawatt-hours, at a cost of $24.8 million.

The utility is also offering a new home energy report to assess customers' energy use and offer suggestions for how to save on their bills.

And it wants to pilot a program with devices on EVs that would track charging data. These devices could control the charging rate during times when the company is trying to reduce the load on its system. The pilot would involve 1,000 customers from 2024 to 2026.