Virginia told Dominion to bill data centres for the lines built to serve them

The SCC ordered a tariff assigning transmission costs directly to large-load customers, in the same order that cut the utility's residential increase to about $0.94 a month.

Virginia's State Corporation Commission has ordered Dominion Energy to develop a tariff assigning transmission infrastructure costs directly to data centres and other large-load customers. Dominion has 203 transmission projects in its grid connection pipeline. In the same rate case the company sought recovery of $1.5 billion, which WTOP reports would translate to about a $0.94 monthly increase for the average customer, down from the $2.90 it originally asked for before recalculating its formula.

The principle at stake is cost causation, and Virginia is the place it matters most, since the state hosts the largest concentration of data centres on earth. Until now, transmission built solely to reach a single very large customer has been recovered across everybody's bill — residents, farms and small businesses included. Deputy Chief Energy Officer Louise White's testimony put the standard plainly: upgrades that would not have been triggered but for a large load customer should be assigned to that customer. Governor Spanberger says the order is projected to save Virginians hundreds of millions of dollars.

That projection is the part to hold loosely, and it is why this card carries no reach figure. The tariff has not been written. WTOP notes it is not clear when the SCC will rule on it or what the exact residential saving will be. An order to develop a policy is a direction of travel, not a bill that changed. What has actually happened is that a major regulator has said out loud who caused the cost.

Source: WTOP