Virginia SCC Proposes Process for Data Center Customers to Cover Transmission Update Costs

Richmond, VA. – The Virginia State Corporation Commission has ordered development of a process for data center customers – giant tech companies and billion dollar corporations – to pay for the transmission upgrades necessary to connect data centers to the grid. The costs will be covered through mandatory Contributions in Aid of Construction payments directly assigned to the individual data center customers, protecting everyday Virginians from high cost transmission projects reaching their bills. 

The SCC’s plan was detailed in their recent final order on Dominion Energy’s Ride T1 Case. The Commission will establish a separate docket open to stakeholders and the public, in which Dominion is required to propose the specific mechanisms for these changes. That docket will also explore additional ways to ensure that other transmission costs caused by data centers are not paid for by other utility customers. 

In response to the news, Connor Kish, Director of the Sierra Club Virginia Chapter, issued the following statement:

“This is a much-needed step in the right direction. Virginians have been clear: they are tired of rising costs on their electricity bills to prop up the world’s richest companies while, simultaneously, those same companies abandon their clean energy and climate action commitments. The SCC is right to start this process and ensure that the responsible parties pay for what they need. The people of Virginia have had enough of rising bills and increasing air pollution.”