Virginia’s rapid data center expansion is pushing electricity bills higher in West Virginia — and the two states’ shared utility is at the center of the problem, according to an NPR report published Saturday, June 7.
West Virginia has doubled down on coal as its primary power source, while neighboring Virginia has been moving away from it. Because the same utility company serves customers in both states, the cost pressures generated by Virginia’s surging data center load don’t stay neatly inside Virginia’s borders.
The arrangement makes it difficult for West Virginia ratepayers to see lower bills, even when that state’s own energy policy heads in a different direction from Virginia’s. NPR’s report didn’t name the specific utility, but the dynamic it describes — one company, two states, diverging energy paths — leaves West Virginia customers with limited options.
Whether state regulators in West Virginia are reviewing rate structures in response to the cross-border cost pressure wasn’t addressed in the report.
Originally reported by NPR (npr.org). Read the original report.
