The Virginia State Corporation Commission ruled that Dominion Energy must change how it bills for transmission infrastructure, requiring large facilities like data centers to pay directly for the substations and power lines built to serve them. In an order filed July 31, 2026, the commission introduced a mandatory contribution in aid of construction that applies to "direct connect" facilities, ensuring that the companies demanding massive amounts of electricity cover the cost of the grid upgrades they necessitate. The decision came as part of a case examining Dominion's request to recover roughly $1.5 billion in transmission investments through its Rider T-1 charge.
The commission approved a modified version of Dominion's proposal but slashed the monthly bill increase for typical residential customers from $2.90 to just $0.94 — a reduction of 67.5%. Under the new allocation method, the residential customer class saw its share decrease by 2.84%, while the GS-4 rate class, which covers large commercial or industrial users drawing at least 500 kW directly from the grid, saw its allocation jump by 4.33%. The commission directed Dominion to draft an amended line extension policy incorporating the mandatory payment requirement and file it in a new regulatory docket within 90 days of the final order.
According to Michael Barber, a senior energy infrastructure policy analyst with The Piedmont Environmental Council, the commission's decision represents a "huge step in the right direction" for protecting residential ratepayers. Dominion spokesperson Jeremy Slayton told Utility Dive that the utility "already has among the strongest protections in the country" to prevent data center costs from landing on home customers, and the amended policy will add "even more protections" to ensure energy-intensive users pay their fair share. Barber noted the proceeding lasted just 90 days, making the commission's order "probably the most in-depth they could go into direct assignment" given the compressed timeline.
The commission signaled it may expand the direct billing approach beyond immediate substation connections. In its order, the SCC said it may use the upcoming docket to weigh whether the policy "could or should" extend to more upstream transmission costs farther up the grid, as well as the possibility of a blended approach that assigns those higher-level expenses to Dominion's new GS-5 rate class for users requiring 25 MW or more. Hyperscaler companies including Google and Amazon testified in the case and requested voluntary contributions, but the commission made the payments mandatory instead. Barber called Virginia a national "bellwether" for cost allocation issues tied to energy infrastructure and expects "a lot of eyes" on Dominion's forthcoming filing as other states grapple with surging data center electricity demand.