A BILL to direct the State Corporation Commission to convene a work group to evaluate and assess electric load flexibility protocols for high electric demand customers; report.
HB906 directs the State Corporation Commission (SCC) to convene a multi-stakeholder work group to study electric load flexibility protocols for high electric demand customers. The work group must examine the opportunities, benefits, barriers, and regulatory frameworks for programs that allow large electricity users to reduce or shift load, including demand response, load curtailment, and related participation structures. The bill defines high electric demand customers to include customers already classified that way by utilities and other retail or industrial customers averaging more than 50 megawatts of demand.
The study is broad and forward-looking. It requires the work group to review Virginia’s current rules and compare them with other states and jurisdictions, while also considering grid reliability, stranded asset risk, fairness to other ratepayers, and the Commonwealth’s clean energy goals. The work group must evaluate incentives, penalties, mandatory versus voluntary participation, backup generation and storage, data center participation, waste heat reuse, environmental impacts, infrastructure upgrades funded by large customers, and potential financial investments from data centers into load flexibility tools such as virtual power plants and programs benefiting neighboring communities and low-income households. A report is due by November 1, 2026, to the SCC, the Commission on Electric Utility Regulation, and the House and Senate commerce committees.
HB906 does not itself change utility regulation or impose new requirements on customers; instead, it creates a formal SCC-led study process that could shape future regulations, guidance, or legislation. It directs the Commission to consider recommendations that can be implemented under existing authority and to incorporate any recommendations on electric load curtailment into applicable Commission evaluations and regulations through 2030. The bill could therefore influence future treatment of large industrial users, data centers, electric cooperatives, demand response programs, and utility planning, especially where load flexibility, grid reliability, and clean energy integration intersect.
The available context suggests generally favorable or at least exploratory sentiment, with the bill advancing through the process and ultimately being continued to the next session in the Rules Committee by voice vote. Because there are no recorded committee transcripts or roll-call votes in the provided materials, there is little direct evidence of opposition or support statements. The bill’s study-oriented structure likely made it more acceptable than a measure imposing immediate mandates, since it asks for analysis and recommendations rather than immediate regulatory changes.
The main points of potential contention are the scope and direction of future load flexibility policy for very large electricity users, especially data centers. Stakeholders may differ on whether participation should be mandatory or voluntary, how much curtailment should be required, what penalties or incentives are appropriate, and whether large customers should fund grid upgrades or community benefits. Environmental groups, environmental justice advocates, consumer advocates, utilities, and high-demand customers are all explicitly included in the work group, indicating that the bill anticipates debate over reliability, cost allocation, public health, environmental impacts, and the balance between economic development and ratepayer protection.