Many Questions Remain After a Week of Expert Testimony in SCC Dominion Energy Rate Case
September 9, 2025 (Warrenton Virginia) – The 2025 Biennial Review of Dominion Energy currently underway is the most important rate case in decades – specifically, the SCC will decide how to manage the unprecedented growth of high-load data centers in Dominion’s service territory and whether to allow Dominion to force Virginia ratepayers to foot the bill for hundreds of millions of dollars in annual rate increases to cover costs incurred by the world’s most profitable companies.
After a full week of testimony, a number of critical questions remain:
- Who is paying for data center development in Virginia?
- Why are residential electric bills rising when home energy use is falling?
- The current case is based on the first $40 billion in infrastructure needs over the next five years; given the true costs are expected to exceed $200 billion within the next decade, why is the SCC not demanding to know how Dominion is planning to pay for everything?
Greg Abbott, PEC’s expert witness at the SCC hearing, testified that data center developers – not residential customers – are responsible for the exploding demand of these next generation resources, as well as the spike in PJM capacity prices.
In fact, Virginia’s residential electricity consumption, which has been flat for years, is actually declining (see graph below). Yet Dominion is asking residents to absorb the cost of the extraordinary amount of electricity and associated infrastructure build-out that is required only to service data centers.
Moreover, the recent rate increase requested by Dominion Energy – the one that has Virginians paying an additional $21 a month – is essentially a retroactive tax levied by Dominion to cover prior losses as a result of poor management and past planning errors.
Without revisions to rates, Virginians could see their bills double or triple in the years ahead
Adding insult to injury, if Dominion and the data center companies (think Google, Meta and Amazon) have their way, Virginians will be forced to pay a whole lot more over the coming decades – as much as triple current residential bills – unless the SCC enacts rational and fair guidelines to prevent ordinary residents from subsidizing the world’s most profitable companies.
Data centers should pay their own business expenses
PEC is asking the SCC to require data centers and other high-load businesses to pay for the infrastructure they need, including high-voltage transmission lines, many of which are only being constructed to serve them.
“We must all raise our voices and ask why Virginia residents, farmers and small businesses should bear the operational costs for the world’s largest and most profitable corporations. Why should we allow these big tech companies to make Virginia ratepayers foot the bill for the cost of their doing business all over the world just because their data centers are physically located in Virginia?” said Chris Miller, president of The Piedmont Environmental Council. “The doubling or tripling of the system to generate and transmit the power needed by these companies has impacts on communities and the natural and cultural resources of Virginia; like any major infrastructure project, the SCC should require Dominion to allocate between 10-20% of the overall project development costs to a mitigation fund for local communities to cure any environmental, social and health-related impacts that are sure to come as a result of these energy generation and transmission projects.”
We cannot let Dominion charge residential customers for data center expenses
PEC is advocating for more stringent consumer protections to prevent data centers from continuing to shift costs to Dominion’s residential and small business customers. PEC’s expert witness testified that the enactment of proper consumer protections is critical BEFORE Dominion spends the additional billions of dollars to connect and serve the next generation of massive data centers.
The SCC needs to include in its order direction to Dominion Energy for a full accounting of the projects it proposes to meet the projected demand—the specific generation, transmission and substation investments that make up the $40 billion in new costs. Included in that accounting must also be the projected impacts on communities and the natural resources and the environment.
Help ensure the SCC meets its obligations so Virginia ratepayers are protected from subsidizing the data center industry and the largest companies in the world that it supports. Please sign up for Virginians for a Smarter Digital Future (smarterdigitalvirginia.com) to stay informed on what actions the SCC takes on the Dominion rate case now, as well as on the dozens of transmission lines, generation and substation projects they will make decisions on in the months to come.
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Media Contact: Michael F. Doble APR, CFCP
Piedmont Environmental Council Communications
(703) 579-7963