The mechanism. Dominion Energy (D) is the utility monopoly for Northern Virginia's "Data Center Alley," the densest concentration of hyperscale computing on Earth — data centers already draw 28% of Virginia Power's electricity sales. Feeding that load requires a $50.1 billion five-year capex plan (2025-2029), including roughly $17 billion tied directly to data-center and clean-energy buildout. But Dominion doesn't set its own return on that spending — the Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC), a three-judge body most national investors have never studied, does. On November 25, 2025, the SCC ruled in Dominion's biennial review (Case PUR-2025-00058), approving a $565.7 million 2026 rate increase — 24% less than Dominion sought — while creating a new "GS-5" large-load rate class forcing data centers over 25 MW to pay minimum demand charges (85% of contracted transmission/distribution, 60% of generation) starting January 2027. That single order is why Dominion trades on a state docket, not just the Fed.
Who cashes in: