The bad news: Dominion Energy customers will see higher bills starting in 2026.
The good news: The day is coming when they’ll be protected from shouldering as much of the costs tied to massive electricity users like data centers.
The State Corporation Commission (SCC) conducted its biennial review of Dominion Energy, an effort required to ensure rates reflect reasonable costs and returns. The review is supposed to balance the utility’s need to recover expenses with protections for everyday ratepayers.
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Rate Increases
Customers will see their bills increase over the next two years, but not by as much as Dominion wanted.
Dominion was seeking increases of $822 million in 2026 and $345 million in 2027. The SCC approved $565.7 million in 2026 and $209.9 million in 2027.
For typical household that’s expected to translated into an $11.24/month increase in 2026 (23.7% lower than Dominion’s request) followed by a $2.36/month increase in 2027 (51.2% lower than requested).
New Rate Class for Mega-Users
The SCC responded to concerns about average customers bearing the costs for mega-users, particularly data centers, by approving a new GS-5 rate class. That creates a category for customers demanding 25 megawatts or more. But it won’t take effect until January 2027.
The SCC also attempted to help shelter small customers from costs associated with the build-out of infrastructure for mega-users.
Those requirements include having mega-users pay at least 85% of contracted distribution and transmission demand and 60% of generation demand, reducing the burden on smaller customers.
Return on Equity Adjusted
The SCC approved a slight increase in Dominion’s approved profit margin, but that also wasn’t as large as the company wanted.
Dominion requested a 10.4% return on equity, but the SCC approved 9.8%, up from 9.7% but below Dominion’s request.
“As the utility regulator, we are obligated by law to set a revenue requirement that affords the Company an opportunity to recover reasonable and prudent projected costs and earn a reasonable rate of return. In this case, that has resulted in an increase in rates, but not to the extent requested by Dominion,” the SCC commissioners stated.
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