AIBRIEF
Fuel costs are up nearly 90% since 2021, and Governor Spanberger is intervening in the NextEra merger to press for affordability guarantees.
Dominion Energy told Virginia regulators the average monthly electric bill will climb to $195 from $173, a 13% jump the utility ties to data-center demand pushing it deeper into the PJM wholesale market, where fuel costs have nearly doubled since 2021.
The numbers come from a Virginia State Corporation Commission filing. Virginia Electric and Power Company, Dominion's regulated utility serving 2.7 million homes and businesses, expects to spend $4.35 billion on fuel through June 2027, averaging 3.95 cents per kilowatt-hour, versus $2.31 billion in 2021 at 2.59 cents — roughly 88% higher.
The cause is a shift in supply mix. PJM, the wholesale grid that stretches from Washington, D.C., to Chicago and serves 67 million people, supplied 23% of Virginia Electric's energy in the latest period, up from 14% in 2021. Nuclear fuel averages less than a penny per kilowatt-hour; PJM spot power runs 6.28 cents. Own-generation is the hedge that is shrinking.
Governor Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) is now intervening in the $66.8 billion NextEra-Dominion merger review, citing the bill math. Florida-based NextEra is the renewable energy giant seeking a combination with Dominion; Spanberger wants affordability, job, and clean-energy commitments before the deal closes. "Every megawatt-hour generated by company-owned resources reduces the need to purchase energy from the PJM market," Scott Gaskill, Virginia Electric's VP of regulatory affairs, said in July 28 sworn testimony — the same hedge Spanberger wants NextEra to underwrite.
What NextEra says it will guarantee, and when, is the next data point.