The Legal and Regulatory Affairs Department conducts legal and regulatory advocacy on behalf of the Association and its Member Cooperatives, particularly when government actions or policies have broad implications for electric cooperatives. We appear before the Virginia State Corporation Commission and the Maryland Public Service Commission, and we have also represented cooperative interests before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the Department of Energy, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service, and numerous other state and federal agencies. We represent the Association—and, when appropriate, Member Cooperatives—before other courts and tribunals as well.

The Department also provides guidance on internal and operational legal matters, assists Boards of Directors, and advises on the proper exercise of authority reserved to cooperatives under the Code of Virginia. In addition, we serve as general legal counsel to the Association itself and administer the VMDAEC Education Scholarship Foundation.

Beyond the Association of Electric Cooperatives, the Department oversees several affiliated entities, including the Foundation; the Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware Association of Broadband Cooperatives; Virginia Cooperative Preference Power, a federal hydropower purchasing consortium; and broadband and electric political action committees.