‘Huge steps’: Environmentalist weighs in on new data center rate class, protections for Dominion Energy customers

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Dominion Energy customers will see higher monthly bills in 2026 after state regulators approved a partial rate increase.

During the State Corporation Commission's (SCC) biennial regulatory review of Dominion's rates, commissioners signed off on an increase that will raise the average residential bill by $11.24 per month in 2026. This hike will be followed by an additional $2.36 increase in 2027. The total increase is about 23% lower than Dominion’s initial request.

But one of the most closely watched components of the case was how the state would handle the surging demand from data centers.

The SCC also approved another part of Dominion's proposal to create a new rate class for high-energy users and adopt protections designed to keep typical customers from covering the cost of data center energy use and infrastructure.

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“Those are both huge steps,” said Christopher Miller, president of the Piedmont Environmental Council. “Unfortunately, it’s only 60% of the problem and the other 40%, because of the enormous costs that are [involved,] could still fall on the average Virginia resident.”

Miller, who closely followed the SCC hearings, said the decision makes meaningful progress, but doesn't go far enough.

“What they didn’t do was change the way we estimate the cost of the allocation to the different classes that exist,” he said.

During the hearings, the SCC acknowledged that Dominion would need to change its cost-allocation model to shift more financial responsibility to data centers, whose rapid growth has sharply increased energy consumption across the region. The SCC’s order does not require Dominion to implement those changes until its next rate review two years from now.

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Miller expects the issue to dominate discussions at the General Assembly in the upcoming session.

“I think you’re going to see a lot of proposals introduced to the General Assembly and then a debate about whether or not the state has to change the way it makes decisions,” he said.

Environmental groups say the new rate class and customer protections are a step toward protecting households from rising infrastructure costs, but warn that, without deeper structural changes, Virginians could still end up footing part of the bill for the state’s growing data-center industry.