Your Dominion Energy Bill: Why It's So High and What They're Not Telling You

So, let me get this straight.

While Justin Leonard was draining a dramatic eagle on the 18th to win the `Dominion Energy Charity Classic`, the tournament's sponsor, `Dominion Energy Virginia`, was quietly dropping a bomb on its customers. A feel-good sports story on one hand, a 20-year plan to potentially double your electricity bill on the other.

You just can’t make this stuff up. It’s the kind of corporate PR jujitsu that should be studied in textbooks. They hand out a big check and a shiny trophy in front of the cameras, all smiles and community spirit. Meanwhile, in a dusty filing with the State Corporation Commission, they’re laying the groundwork for a future where your monthly bill hits $381. It's a masterclass in distraction.

The Old Bait-and-Switch

Look, I’m happy for Justin Leonard. A 53-year-old guy making a three-stroke comeback? Great story (Justin Leonard eagles final hole to win Dominion Energy Charity Classic). It’s clean, it’s simple, it’s got a hero. It’s everything the other Dominion Energy story isn’t.

The real headline isn’t the golf. The real headline is buried in Dominion’s new integrated resource plan (IRP) (Dominion long-range projections show major energy growth, what it takes to fully comply with VCEA). They project energy use in Virginia will double by 2045. To meet that, they’ve mapped out a plan that will, by their own math, jack up the average residential bill to $308 by 2035. And it doesn't stop there.

This is a bad plan. No, 'bad' doesn't cover it—this is a five-alarm dumpster fire gift-wrapped as a "long-range projection." They’re telling us with a straight face that this is just the cost of progress. The cost of all those new data centers humming away, powering our glorious digital future.

And I have to ask: while the crowd was politely clapping for a well-played golf shot, did anyone at Dominion stop to think about how a family is supposed to absorb a $381 power bill? Did they game out what that does to a household budget? Or are we just the rounding error in their projections for the next `stock price dominion energy` report?

It’s like your landlord throwing a pizza party for the building right after slipping a 50% rent increase notice under your door. Don’t look at the notice, look at the free pepperoni! It’s insulting.

The "Clean" Energy Shell Game

The real kicker is how they’re selling this. It’s all framed around the Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA), the state law that mandates a transition to clean energy. Dominion’s 20-year plan sounds great on paper: 53% solar, 10% wind, some batteries, even some new-age nuclear reactors. It’s a green dream.

Except for the fine print. 25% of their new power generation is slated to come from natural gas.

Let me repeat that. The VCEA legally requires all gas-powered plants to be retired by 2045. Yet in the very same document outlining their compliance, Dominion states it doesn't see a "viable way" to meet demand and follow the law. So what are we even doing here? It's like a getaway driver promising the police he'll obey all traffic laws during the bank heist. The two things are fundamentally incompatible.

This whole thing is a beautifully constructed shell game. They get to check the "we love solar" box for the environmentalists while also building the fossil fuel plants they seem to actually want. Consumer advocates are already screaming about it, pointing out that Dominion’s reports on new gas plants conveniently lack any real analysis of the health impacts on the people living nearby. Offcourse, why would they include that? It would just mess up the nice, clean numbers.

They’re legally mandated to go green, but they're telling their regulators it's impossible, and we're all just supposed to... what, exactly? Nod along and get our `dominion energy bill pay` accounts ready for the shock? The whole system is so bogged down in bureaucracy with groups like PJM, the regional grid operator, that accountability feels like a fantasy. I tried calling the `dominion energy customer service virginia` line once just to ask about my meter reading and spent 45 minutes in a phone tree that I’m convinced was designed by a sadist. Now imagine trying to get a straight answer on this mess.

Who Pays the Price? (Hint: It's You)

So why is demand supposedly doubling? The elephant in the room is data centers. Northern Virginia is the data capital of the world, and those server farms are thirsty. They drink electricity like it’s water.

Dominion’s spokesman, Aaron Ruby, was quick to point out that data centers are paying a 10% larger share of transmission costs than they were five years ago. Okay, great. But what percentage of the new demand are they creating? It feels like we’re being asked to subsidize the infrastructure for Big Tech, and the 10% figure is thrown out there to make us feel better about it.

It’s a classic case of privatizing the profits while socializing the costs. The data centers get the power they need to operate, Dominion gets to build billions in new infrastructure that guarantees its profits for decades, and you get a bill that looks like a car payment. Everybody wins—except you.

Then again, maybe I'm the crazy one here. Maybe this is the only way to keep the lights on and TikTok running. But the numbers, the contradictions, the sheer audacity of dropping this news during your own sponsored golf tournament... it all just stinks. It ain't right. They know we’re so distracted, so overwhelmed with everything else, that we won’t notice the long-term squeeze until it’s already happening. And by then, it’ll be too late.

They're Not Even Hiding It Anymore

At the end of the day, the golf tournament was the perfect metaphor. It was a pleasant, well-manicured distraction from a much messier and more expensive reality. We get to watch a guy win a trophy, a fleeting moment of victory. Dominion gets to lock in its business model for the next twenty years. This isn't a plan to serve Virginia; it's a plan to serve shareholders, using state law and projected demand as the perfect cover. And we're all just spectators, being told to cheer while our wallets are being emptied.