Dominion Energy CEO Robert Blue was given a $3 million bonus over two years for being a good progressive, meeting controversial ESG goals despite the company being scrutinized for overcharging customers and doling out a hefty super PAC donation attacking Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin (R).

The company is headquartered in Richmond, Virginia. It joins a growing list of companies complying with ESG mandates. ESG is a scoring system that rates corporations based on factors including their environmental, social, and governance policies.

Company stock plummeted this year, as Dominion Energy faced accusations that it overcharged customers by $1 billion and reportedly gave $200,000 to a super PAC attacking Youngkin. The company claims the donation was by accident.

The Associated Press reported at the time that Blue told the employees in an email that the company “didn’t properly vet an anti-Glenn Youngkin PAC before giving it large donations.”

So @DominionEnergy‘s CEO Robert Blue overcharged customers by $1 BILLION, got crushed by the competition, attacked the governor of one of the company’s key markets… and in return for this comedy of errors received a $3 million BONUS because he followed @BlackRock‘s directions? https://t.co/TLwwqVxbux

— Tea Party Patriots (@TPPatriots) June 28, 2023

.@GlennYoungkin deserves better. And utility companies with monopolies should not be involved in politics, @DominionEnergy
Republicans pay for electricity and every single lineman working for you votes red.

— Blame Soros | America Last | Get Used to It (@Jude_62) June 29, 2023

In March, Dominion Energy released its 2022 proxy statement which showed that Blue earned a bonus of approximately $1.6 million, in part due to meeting ESG goals, according to the Daily Mail. In 2021, Blue was handed $1.75 million for meeting ESG goals.

Last month, Barron’s noted a growing trend in corporations to incentivize CEOs to help companies achieve ESG goals. Those incentives ran into the tens of millions of dollars.

“Over 60% of S&P 500 companies included ESG measures in executive pay last year, up from 19% in 2019, according to proxy advisory firm Glass Lewis. Utilities and fossil fuel companies — facing some of the steepest risks to revenue as the world moves to cleaner energy — are most likely to include ESG factors in pay, followed by consumer-facing brands and financial institutions,” the publication stated.

“Dominion CEO Robert Blue received nearly $7 million in compensation in 2021, including a $1.75 million bonus partially thanks to meeting ESG goals,” Barron’s added. “The company was rated above-average among peers by MSCI’s ESG ratings unit, partly due to its effort in water management.”

I want a refund on my energy bills, ⁦@DominionEnergy⁩! Ratepayers didn’t set those goals for you — we want reliable energy at a decent price.

CEO of energy giant gets $3 MILLION bonus after meeting controversial ESG goals https://t.co/2glp3bDUdL

— Bart Marcois (@bmarcois) June 30, 2023

“As part of its executive incentive plan in 2021, the company set a goal for 95% of employees to participate in a town hall about sustainability initiatives,” the outlet wrote.

In 2022, Dominion’s stock price cratered by approximately 30 percent with a current share price of $51, down 34 percent.

In September 2021, the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC), which is an environmental watchdog, claimed to Virginia’s State Corporation Commission that Dominion had overcharged customers by roughly $1.2 billion since 2015.

Is this why my power is always so unreliable?

— Matt Whitlock (@mattdizwhitlock) June 28, 2023

“Because Dominion is a monopoly, no competition exists to drive its prices down,” the SELC said in a statement. “Virginian households average the sixth highest electric bills in the country.”

Will Hild, who is the executive director of Consumers’ Research, slammed Blue’s ESG bonuses as “egregious.”

“It’s egregious that Dominion would award millions in ESG bonuses to CEO Robert Blue when an objective analysis of his performance shows consistent failure. But this is ESG in its purest form – ignore failure to customers and prioritize woke virtue signaling that does nothing for them,” he told Fox Business in an interview.

A spokesperson for Dominion Energy told Fox Business, “At Dominion Energy, we are proud to safely provide reliable and affordable energy to 7 million customers in the states we serve. In those states, our rates are set by regulatory commissions. At our Annual Meeting of Shareholders in May, 91% of our shareholders who voted their proxies approved the compensation for our named executive officers, including Mr. Blue.”

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