Virginia's household electricity budgets could look markedly different by 2046, as Dominion Energy's new projections suggest substantially higher bills.

Even the energy plan Dominion favors anticipates a significant increase in residential bills — but the company disputes a separate estimate required by the state regulator that would raise a current $180 monthly bill to $458 by 2046, WTVR reported.

Here's what to know

Dominion's Integrated Resource Plan Update focuses on meeting Virginia's growing electricity demand through 2046 and lays out the utility's strategy.

Monthly bills could approach $285 by 2046 under the company's forecast, with a roughly $258 bill projected for 2036. 

Those estimates assume household electricity use of 1,000 kilowatt-hours per month.

Measured against the $180 monthly baseline, the State Corporation Commission's required calculation yields an increase of more than 150%, versus roughly 57% under Dominion's preferred plan.

Additional electricity sales are central to Dominion's objection to the commission's methodology. 

The company argues that the calculation gives insufficient weight to sales it expects from growing demand, thereby overstating future bills.

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More background

An earlier outlook put monthly residential bills under the preferred plan at about $267 in 2045, up from about $255 in 2035, according to WTVR. 

Those lower figures appeared in Dominion's 2025 Integrated Resource Plan update.

The new forecast ends about $18 per month higher than the previous outlook. 

The estimates cover different years, however, so they represent successive planning forecasts rather than a same-year comparison of approved prices.

At nearly $285 per month, annual electricity costs would reach roughly $3,420, compared with about $2,160 at the stated $180 monthly baseline. 

That's about $1,260 more each year for the same monthly usage of 1,000 kilowatt-hours.

What's being done?

Both sets of figures remain projections, not approved rate increases. 

One comes from Dominion's preferred plan; the commission-required calculation provides an alternative estimate.

Dominion notes that future electricity rates still need regulatory approval.

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Dominion expects to release its next complete Integrated Resource Plan update in October 2027, per WTVR. 

That is not a scheduled approval of either projected bill amount.

Dominion said it "believes that this methodology results in overstated bill projections because it does not reflect anticipated growth in sales over the period on which each portfolio is based."

Where can I learn more?

Dominion's projections add to concerns about what Virginians will pay for electricity in the years ahead. These stories cover fuel-cost forecasting, merger concerns, and gas-plant proposals that could affect customers' bills.

• Virginia customers paid billions in surprise fuel charges after Dominion's repeated forecast misses.

• A Virginia panel warned that NextEra's Dominion bid could send power bills higher.

• After Virginia strengthened its climate law, Dominion proposed one of the nation's biggest gas plants.

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