Governor Abigail Spanberger and Democrats campaigned hard on affordability. Now her own chief energy officer is telling Virginians to expect higher utility bills for the next 20 years — driven by aging plants, decarbonization, and the massive power demands of data centers.

In this Virginia Insider breakdown, Uriah Kiser examines new reporting from the Daily Progress and statements from Chief Energy Officer Josephus Allmond.

Allmond confirmed that large commercial loads — including the hundreds of data centers concentrated in Northern Virginia’s Data Center Alley — are a major reason ratepayers are seeing higher bills. Virginia already hosts the world’s densest cluster of these facilities, with hundreds more planned. Residential customers make up only about a third of electricity use while shouldering infrastructure costs.

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