2026-08-11 / 路透社
REUTERS/Leah Millis/档案照片 购买授权，打开新标签页
- 内容摘要
- 相关公司
- 燃料成本可能推高用户月度平均账单，涨幅最高达13%，从173美元升至195美元
- 弗吉尼亚电力公司预计，其能源供应中将有23%来自PJM批发市场，高于2021年的14%
- Dominion表示，海上风电项目将在运营首10年为客户节省约50亿美元
8月11日（路透社）——由于数据中心带动的电力需求增长，公用事业公司Dominion越来越容易受到波动剧烈的批发电力价格影响，其在弗吉尼亚州的燃料成本五年内上涨了近90%。
作为全球最大的数据中心市场，弗吉尼亚州的燃料成本飙升，进一步削弱了“人工智能驱动的电力需求不会让居民客户承担更高电费”这一说法的可信度。
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燃料成本是Dominion用于购买发电所需煤炭、天然气和核燃料的开支。据Dominion估算，例如核燃料的平均成本预计不到每千瓦时1美分，而在批发市场购买电力的成本则为每千瓦时6.28美分。
数据中心的快速增长正成为弗吉尼亚等州的政治难题。该州民主党州长阿比盖尔·斯潘伯格上周表示，她将干预NextEra能源公司（股票代码：NEE.N）以668亿美元收购Dominion的监管审查，敦促对方就电费负担能力、就业保护和清洁能源投资作出承诺。
Dominion能源旗下子公司弗吉尼亚电力公司（股票代码：D.N）预测，截至2027年6月底，其燃料支出将达43.5亿美元，平均每千瓦时3.95美分。根据近期提交给弗吉尼亚州监管机构的文件，这一成本较2021年高出88%——2021年该电力公司的系统燃料支出为23.1亿美元，平均每千瓦时2.59美分。
此次成本飙升之际，弗吉尼亚电力公司预计将从电网运营商PJM互联公司运营的批发市场采购23%的能源供应。PJM服务范围从华盛顿特区延伸至芝加哥，覆盖6700万人口，这一比例较2021年的14%有所上升。
弗吉尼亚电力公司监管事务副总裁斯科特·加斯基尔表示，该公司自有发电组合是应对PJM市场价格波动的最佳对冲手段。与NextEra的合并计划预计将加快Dominion电厂和可再生能源项目的建设，减少其对PJM市场采购的依赖。
“公司自有资源发出的每兆瓦时电力，都能减少从PJM市场购买能源的需求，”加斯基尔在7月28日提交给弗吉尼亚州监管机构的证词中说道。
弗吉尼亚电力公司为弗吉尼亚州的270万户家庭和企业提供服务。根据弗吉尼亚州监管文件，燃料成本可能将用户月度平均账单推高13%，从173美元升至195美元。文件显示，如果Dominion通过发债将部分燃料成本回收推迟到未来数年，涨幅将仅为5%左右。
公用事业监管机构弗吉尼亚州公司委员会的工作人员表示，数据中心带来的显著负荷增长，越来越多地让Dominion暴露在批发电力市场风险中——在热浪和持续寒潮期间，该市场的现货价格可能飙升至每兆瓦时数千美元。
因此，监管机构、消费者权益倡导者和许多议员越来越多地认为，数据中心带动的负荷增长所带来的成本，目前仍被广泛分摊到了居民客户身上。
Dominion和数据中心行业辩称，数据中心已经承担了自身的成本，不应为近期居民电费上涨负责。
与此同时，Dominion高管表示，其耗资117亿美元的弗吉尼亚州海上风电项目，将在运营首10年为客户节省约50亿美元的燃料开支。
蒂姆·麦克劳克林 报道；蒂莫西·加德纳与奥罗拉·埃利斯 编辑
我们的标准：路透社信托原则。
Virginia data center boom pushes Dominion deeper into costly power market
2026-08-11 / Reuters
A car drives past a building of the Digital Realty Data Center in Ashburn, Virginia, U.S., March 17, 2025. REUTERS/Leah Millis/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab
- Summary
- Companies
- Fuel costs could lift average monthly bill as much as 13% to $195 from $173
- Virginia Electric expects 23% of energy supply from PJM wholesale market, up from 14% in 2021
- Dominion says offshore wind project would save customers about $5 billion over first 10 years
Aug 11 (Reuters) – Dominion’s fuel costs in Virginia have risen nearly 90% in five years as data-center-driven demand leaves the utility increasingly exposed to volatile wholesale electricity prices.
The surge in fuel costs in Virginia, the world’s largest data center market, is casting further doubt on claims that AI-driven electricity demand is not saddling residential customers with higher power bills.
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Fuel costs are the expenses Dominion pays to buy the coal, natural gas and nuclear fuel to generate electricity. Nuclear fuel, for example, is expected to average less than a penny per kilowatt hour, compared with purchasing electricity on the wholesale market for 6.28 cents per kilowatt hour, according to Dominion estimates.
Rapid growth in data centers is becoming a political headache in states like Virginia, where Governor Abigail Spanberger, a Democrat, said last week she would intervene in the regulatory review of NextEra Energy’s
NEE.N
proposed $66.8 billion merger with Dominion, to press for commitments on power bill affordability, job protections and clean energy investments.
Virginia Electric and Power Company, a unit of Dominion Energy
D.N
, forecasts fuel expense of $4.35 billion through the end of June 2027, averaging 3.95 cents per kilowatt hour. That cost is 88% higher than 2021, when the electric utility’s system fuel expense was $2.31 billion, or an average of 2.59 cents per kilowatt hour, according to recent filings with Virginia regulators.
The surge comes as Virginia Electric expects to buy 23% of its energy supply from the wholesale electricity market operated by grid manager PJM Interconnection, which serves 67 million people in a territory that stretches from Washington, D.C., to Chicago. That’s up from 14% in 2021.
Scott Gaskill, vice president of regulatory affairs for Virginia Electric, said the utility’s own generation portfolio is the best hedge against PJM market prices. The planned merger with NextEra is expected to accelerate Dominion’s buildout of power plants and renewable energy, reducing its reliance on PJM market purchases.
“Every megawatt-hour generated by company-owned resources reduces the need to purchase energy from the PJM market,” Gaskill said in his July 28 testimony filed with Virginia regulators.
Virginia Electric serves 2.7 million homes and businesses in Virginia. Fuel costs could drive up the average monthly bill by as much as 13% to $195 from $173, according to Virginia regulatory filings. The increase would only be about 5% if Dominion can issue bonds to defer some fuel cost recovery from customers into future years, the filings said.
Staff at utility regulator Virginia State Corporation Commission said significant load growth from data centers increasingly exposes Dominion to a wholesale electricity market where spot prices can skyrocket to several thousand dollars per megawatt hour during heatwaves and extended cold snaps.
As a result, regulators, consumer advocates and many lawmakers increasingly argue that data-center-driven load growth is creating costs that are still being spread too broadly across residential customers.
Dominion and the data center industry argue that data centers are paying their costs and are not responsible for recent residential bill increases.
Meanwhile, Dominion executives say its $11.7 billion Virginia offshore wind project will generate fuel savings of about $5 billion for customers during the project’s first 10 years of operation.
Reporting By Tim McLaughlin; editing by Timothy Gardner and Aurora Ellis
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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