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State regulators outline path for handling rising power demand from data centers
Summary
State Corporation Commission staff told a Senate subcommittee that they have existing review tools and a pending docket to consider whether data centers should be classified separately for electric rates and how to protect other customers as large new loads come online.
Members of a Virginia Senate subcommittee heard from State Corporation Commission officials on Jan. 27 about how the agency is evaluating the impacts of rapid data-center growth on the electric grid and on non-data-center customers.
The nut graf: SCC staff said the commission already has regulatory tools — including biannual fuel-and-cost review proceedings and an ongoing technical conference — to consider whether data centers should be treated as a distinct customer class and to allocate costs so other customers are protected.
At the hearing, Kim Pate of the State Corporation Commission said, “The Commission regulates the rates of electric utilities,” and listed the commission’s routine duties: biannual reviews, fuel-recovery cost cases, rate-adjustment clauses and reviews of integrated-resource plans and transmission projects. She told senators the SCC convened a technical conference on Dec. 16, 2024, to take public comments…
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