Overview
- The State Corporation Commission directed Dominion Energy to assign the direct costs of transmission facilities built exclusively to serve large users, such as data-center substations and connecting power lines, to those customers.
- The commission required Dominion to file proposed amendments to its line-extension policy within 90 days to enable contributions-in-aid-of-construction (CIACs) for 'direct connect' projects and to provide a broader status update within 120 days.
- The order does not create an immediate new charge because specific CIAC terms and any new rates must be proposed by Dominion and reviewed in separate regulatory filings.
- Governor Abigail Spanberger and allied lawmakers hailed the decision as a consumer win that they say will save households and small businesses hundreds of millions of dollars in transmission costs.
- Regulators left unresolved who will pay for upstream regional transmission and new generation driven by data-center growth, a question that is likely to prompt further proceedings and involve Dominion, data-center operators, PJM and federal regulators.