Regulatory Alert: Virginia SCC Concludes Briefing in Dominion “Golden to Mars” Transmission Case

Docket: PUR-2025-00056 Status: Final Order Pending (Expected Q1/Q2 2026)

The Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) has entered the final deliberation phase for Dominion Energy’s Golden to Mars 500kV/230kV Project. Following a contentious evidentiary hearing that concluded on January 15, 2026, all parties filed final legal briefs by the February 3, 2026 deadline.

The case is now being monitored as a potential bellwether for how the Commission handles the growing friction between data center load demands and residential ratepayer protections.

I. Key Regulatory Developments

• The "Undergrounding" Pilot: Intervenors, led by Loudoun County and the Piedmont Environmental Council (PEC), have formally requested that the Commission mandate undergrounding for segments passing within 500 feet of residential areas or schools. While Dominion cites technical hurdles and a 2028 in-service deadline, legislative momentum—including HB 1487—is currently seeking to expand pilot programs for 500kV undergrounding specifically for projects pending as of February 2026.
• Cost-Allocation Pivot: In a major brief filed last week, SCC Staff signaled that "the time is more than ripe" for the Commission to revisit transmission cost allocation. Staff argued that the escalating costs of grid hardening and undergrounding mitigation should be assigned to the high-load customer classes (Data Centers) that necessitate the infrastructure, rather than being socialized across the general rate base.
• Legislative Pressure: Simultaneously, the Virginia General Assembly is advancing SB 339, which would direct the SCC to initiate a formal proceeding by 2027 to ensure that data centers are not being "unreasonably subsidized" by residential customers for transmission-related capital expenditures.

II. Technical Standoff

Dominion Energy maintains its preference for an overhead route (Route 3A), arguing that the geological presence of diabase rock and height restrictions near Dulles International Airport make undergrounding cost-prohibitive and technically risky. However, intervenors pointed to recent PJM filings for long-distance underground HVDC lines as evidence that high-voltage undergrounding is no longer an "engineering impossibility" in the Dulles corridor.

III. Investor & Market Outlook

A final order is anticipated before May 2026. If the SCC mandates underground construction without a clear cost-recovery mechanism from the data center class, it could impact Dominion’s 2026–2028 capital expenditure projections. Conversely, a ruling that forces data centers to pay a "mitigation premium" would establish a new regulatory precedent for the world’s largest data center hub.