Virginia’s House of Delegates passed HB 434 unanimously in February 2026, requiring the state’s two major electric utilities to measure how well they’re using their existing power grid. The bill now sits with the Senate Committee on Commerce and Labor.
The legislation directs the State Corporation Commission to work with Dominion Energy and Appalachian Power to create grid utilization metrics. Both utilities must submit petitions to the SCC by November 1, 2026. The SCC must issue a final order by July 1, 2027.
The core idea is simple. Electric grids are built to handle peak demand, like the hottest summer day when everyone runs their air conditioning. But for most of the year, that capacity sits unused. Duke University research found that U.S. grids operate at roughly 53% capacity across 22 regional systems. Researchers estimate there’s about 100 gigawatts of spare capacity sitting idle nationwide.
U.S. electric grids run at just 53% capacity — leaving roughly 100 gigawatts of power sitting idle nationwide.
When utilities can’t show they’re using existing infrastructure well, they often request money to build new substations and transmission lines. Those projects are expensive and that cost gets passed to customers. HB 434 lets the SCC use utilization data when reviewing future utility requests for new infrastructure spending.
The bill identifies three specific metrics. The first measures peak load against total grid capacity. The second compares current electricity delivery against the maximum possible delivery. The third tracks how much electricity is lost during distribution.
The bill also recognizes alternatives to new construction. These include energy storage, virtual power plants, customer-owned capacity resources, and utility-owned distributed generation. These tools are called non-wires alternatives, and they can help manage demand spikes without building new infrastructure. Rising interest rates and soaring material costs have made new grid construction increasingly expensive, reinforcing the case for maximizing existing infrastructure before committing to new builds.
HB 434 landed on Governor Spanberger’s “Affordable Virginia Agenda” in January 2026. The advocacy group Deploy Action worked with the governor’s handover team on the concept. The bill passed the House with near-unanimous bipartisan support, since Democrats hold a supermajority in the chamber. The Senate vote, however, reportedly showed a party-line split, with Republicans raising concerns about grid reliability. Virginia’s significant data center capacity has placed growing pressure on grid operators to deliver power efficiently across the state. The Utilize Coalition, a nonpartisan group whose founding members reportedly include Google, Tesla, and Carrier, launched to replicate Virginia’s grid utilization efforts in other states.
References
- https://pv-magazine-usa.com/2026/02/04/virginia-house-unanimously-passes-legislation-to-require-utility-measurement-of-grid-utilization/
- https://www.latitudemedia.com/news/virginia-is-becoming-the-nations-grid-utilization-test-bed/
- https://greenehurlocker.com/virginia-energy-legislation-update-key-themes-from-this-session/
- https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20261/SB621/text/SB621SC1
- https://trackbill.com/bill/virginia-senate-bill-621-electric-utilities-electric-grid-utilization-metrics-state-corporation-commission/2779842/
- https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/transmission/virginia-to-utilities-do-more-existing-power-grid
