Loudoun Leaders React to SCC Ruling on Dominion Rate Case

After the State Corporation Commission last night announced that it was approving a request by Dominion Energy to create a new rate class for large energy users and partially granted a request to increase rates, some community leaders say this is a good first step at regulating the data center industry, while other are raising concerns.

The SCC’s final order in the utility company’s biennial review and said the new GS-5 class will be made up of customers requesting 25 megawatts or more. It will go into effect Jan. 1, 2027. While the request by Dominion to increase rates would have seen the typical residential bill increasing by $21.43 a month by 2027, the approved increase is expected to increase the average bill by approximately $13.50 by 2027.

Dominion representatives told Loudoun Now earlier this year that the rate increases were driven by increased costs for supplies and labor.

“For the most part those new prices reflect the increasing cost of generating and delivering more electricity, primarily due to significant increases in the cost of fuel for our power plants, significant increases in the cost of all the materials and equipment that we have to buy on a regular basis to generate and deliver electricity, and then also, to a lesser extent than those items, ongoing upgrades that we're making to the grid to serve growing demand,” Dominion Media Relations Manager Aaron Ruby said.

READ MORE