Virginia Turns AI Data-Center Power Lines Into a User-Pays Tariff

Virginia’s State Corporation Commission ordered Dominion Energy to develop a tariff framework that assigns more transmission costs directly to data centers and other large-load customers when upgrades are built for them. The move follows Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s push for a cost-causation, or “but-for,” approach and is being framed by state officials as a ratepayer-protection measure. The deeper signal is that AI infrastructure is entering a new regulated-cost phase, where grid access, tariff design, and political tolerance may matter as much as GPUs and land.