Virgina’s State Corporation Commission (SCC) has ruled that data centers are on the hook to pay for new high-voltage transmission lines that will service their facilities.
The SCC, which has regulatory authority over state utilities, ordered Dominion Energy to directly assign the cost of transmission infrastructure to data centers and other large-load users connected to their facilities. Transmission line costs had previously been funded by a broad range of utility users, including households and small businesses.
Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s administration submitted a filing last month urging the SCC to make the ruling. In a release, her office said the decision will save “Virginia families, small businesses, and other ratepayers hundreds of millions of dollars.”
“I am proud that after my administration urged state regulators to protect Virginia families and small businesses from shouldering the cost of new transmission infrastructure meant to serve data centers, the SCC listened,” Spanberger said.
Senator Schuyler VanValkenburg and 19 other state legislators also wrote a letter to the SCC endorsing Spanberger’s efforts to ensure data centers pay for transmission infrastructure.
Spanberger’s office says the governor “has remained relentlessly focused on making energy more affordable for Virginians and listening to the needs of local communities. The Governor recently signed first-of-its-kind legislation to tax data centers on their energy consumption, enforce stricter environmental requirements on backup generators, and give local leaders more tools to assess potential impacts of data center projects.”
Feature image, JU.STOCKER/stock.adobe.com
