Stakeholder Engagement

Each year, the company holds hundreds of meetings with a broad array of stakeholders to listen to and carefully consider their input. For example, while we always meet minimum public notice requirements, our communications with the residents near where we work are often extended to ensure everyone who might be potentially affected by our work has a chance to learn about the project and provide feedback.

Another method through which we engage stakeholders is our sustainability priorities assessment. In the spring of 2024, Dominion Energy hired a consulting firm to conduct an updated sustainability priorities assessment, engaging both internal and external stakeholders in evaluating the company’s key impact areas related to sustainability. This process involved detailed research on:

• • Sustainability reporting frameworks (e.g., GRI, SASB, TCFD)
• • Sustainability-related rating agency reports
• • Regulatory developments related to sustainability
• • Industry and peer company sustainability reports and disclosures

In addition, the consulting firm held independent stakeholder interviews with customers, investors, suppliers, trade organizations, and non-governmental agencies to understand their perspectives and expectations for our company. This research identified several priority focus areas, which were further refined through an electronic stakeholder survey.

The results of this assessment further validated our company’s mission: Delivering the reliable, affordable, and increasingly clean energy that powers our customers every day. Key themes from the assessment highlighted stakeholders’ concerns around reliability through energy dependability, cyber and data security, and modernizing the grid. Other themes included energy access and affordability, safety and health, improving the customer experience, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Furthermore, stakeholders reinforced expectations around business ethics and transparency, which we demonstrate through robust reporting — including this Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility Report.

Adopted in 2018, Dominion Energy’s formal EJ policy opens in a new window sets expectations for project teams that historically marginalized communities should not be disproportionately harmed by our infrastructure initiatives and that they should be part of the planning process. We have developed rigorous internal processes to ensure accountability and follow-through. In cases where a community meets the definition of an EJ community, our process requires that the company consider proactive and intentional communication and engagement to ensure understanding and involvement; that concerns are heard and appropriately responded to and addressed; and that Dominion Energy works to mitigate any undue project impacts. All major construction projects are reviewed for EJ considerations.

We engage with low-income communities, underrepresented communities, Tribal Nations, and others who have not always had a seat at the table. We believe all communities should have ready access to accurate information and a meaningful voice in the development process. We also work to ensure that all communities have the chance to benefit from infrastructure enhancements, such as undergrounding distribution lines and middle-mile broadband, as well as the economic opportunities presented by our investments, to the greatest extent possible.

In 2023, we completed 58 EJ screenings for major projects, bringing to 267 the number of such screenings carried out over the life of our formal EJ program, from 2019 through 2023.

The International Labour Organization defines the concept of a just transition as “greening the economy in a way that is as fair and inclusive as possible to everyone concerned, creating decent work opportunities and leaving no one behind.”

Our concerns for human rights and EJ inform our approach to a just transition as we continue our decarbonization efforts, including the retirement of certain legacy generation facilities. As with the loss of any industry, closing a plant can affect the economy, the environment, and the community in the surrounding areas. Dominion Energy engages with state and local leaders about the effects of such closures. We also engage in ongoing support of these communities where we have worked, and hope to continue to work, for many years. For example, our 2023 Virginia Integrated Resource Plan opens in a new window identified retired fossil-fuel generation sites as potential locations for future small modular reactor construction, utilizing existing transmission infrastructure and providing a just transition for the local workforce.

We are focused on balancing the operational need for safe, reliable, affordable, and increasingly clean energy with community support and career longevity for our employees. When our legacy fossil-fuel generation plants are near their scheduled retirements, employees are still needed to ensure they operate safely and as good environmental stewards to their neighbors until their retirement dates. In some instances, we may have to increase staffing in the short term to maintain safe and reliable operations. At the same time, we also must plan for the transition of displaced employees to other roles. We will need to attract, retain, and retrain employees for careers that could span different technologies, and we are working toward those goals.

Dominion Energy’s Education Assistance Program provides 100% reimbursement of eligible tuition costs, up to $7,500 per calendar year, for regular active, full-time, and part-time non-union employees who are scheduled to work at least 1,000 hours per year. This program can help employees gain the education they need and transition to other energy jobs. Our Talent Management & Development organization and the Dominion Energy EMPOWER Career Center provide employees with career coaching and resources to help identify the skills and interests that will help them develop a career plan and identify steps to prepare for the clean-energy transition. The company also provides planning resources such as retiree learning opportunities and partnerships with community colleges.