WARRENTON, Va. (Feb. 20, 2026) – Two important data center reform bills, SB619 and SB339 survived crossover – bringing the General Assembly that much closer to passing real data center reform legislation. On Tuesday, the House Labor and Commerce Committee is expected to take up SB 619, a bill that would create critically needed state oversight and rate payer protections. The General Assembly needs to get these two comprehensive data center reform bills over the finish line and on to Gov. Spanberger’s desk. SB 619 and SB 339 will kickstart the process of reining in Big Tech and providing long overdue protections to Virginians and our natural resources.
“We’re so close to seeing much needed data center state oversight, transparency and ratepayer protections become reality. Next week, General Assembly leadership has the opportunity to do the right thing and take the first step to reforming years of unmitigated data center development,” says Chris Miller, president of The Piedmont Environmental Council. “The absence of any real statewide plan has created the crisis we’re facing. We are the data center capital of the world and should be an example for the rest of the country. I believe the General Assembly will step up and demonstrate how Virginia leads.”
SB 619: Certificate of operation for high-load facilities
SB 619 requires high-load facilities, defined as those needing at least 90 megawatts of electricity, to get a Certificate of Operation from the State Corporation Commission (SCC) before being connected to the grid. This would capture most interconnections of hyperscale data centers.
At the moment there is no state oversight: Dominion Energy makes those decisions.
SB 619 requires the SCC to consider the following before approving certificates of operation:
- Ratepayer Impacts: Any likely generation, transmission, or distribution needs attributable to the operation of the high-load facility, the SCC must find that the approval would not raise the rates of other customers.
- Grid Reliability: If there is sufficient energy and infrastructure to support the load without jeopardizing reliability of the grid.
- Environmental Impact: For the first time, the SCC would assess the aggregate and cumulative impact of the increases in electrical demand, including the need for new generation, transmission and substations.
SB 339: Cost Allocation
SB 339 directs the SCC to use its existing authority to examine and adjust the allocation of transmission costs for electric utilities to protect non-data center customers from rate increases driven by data center growth. Without changing the allocation methodology, other ratepayers could be stuck with $28 billion in transmission costs and capital expenditures in the range of $100 to $300 billion.
The legislation calls for the SCC to allocate transmission costs to specific data center customers to eliminate or minimize unreasonable subsidies or rate increases for non-data center customers.
It also requires review of current allocation of generation and distribution costs among different customer classes to ensure other rate payers are not subsidizing high load customers.
Traditional ratemaking spreads the cost of new transmission lines and power plants across all customers based on “peak hour” usage. Historically the peak hour was driven by residential HVAC use during extreme weather in winter and summer. This is no longer true. Data centers operate constantly at high capacity, and data centers, not other ratepayers, are driving the need for massive new infrastructure.
SB 339 says that Dominion must use the Probability of Dispatch methodology in a relevant proceeding (the next rate case or a separate proceeding), prior to January 1, 2028. This is important because the probability of dispatch methodology more accurately aligns the costs of infrastructure with the actual, consistent, 24/7 high-demand usage of data centers.
“Virginia’s state legislators have heard their constituents’ call for data center reform now. Poll after poll shows Virginia citizens expect their elected representatives to represent them first, not business interests that run roughshod over their communities. The time is now for our representatives to lead. SB 619 and SB 339 will ensure data centers’ energy contracts are regulated by the State Corporation Commission and that costs are allocated to the large load users driving the need to triple the size of our electrical system, affecting millions of acres of land along thousands of miles of new powerlines,” said Miller.
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The Piedmont Environmental Council(PEC) works to protect and restore the lands and waters of the Virginia Piedmont, while building stronger, more sustainable communities. Founded in 1972, PEC is a locally based, community-supported 501(c)3 nonprofit and accredited land trust. At the core of PEC’s approach is a focus on educating, engaging and empowering people to effect positive change in their communities.