Virginia has experienced one of the most dramatic increases in commercial electricity demand in the United States over the past several years, with sales climbing by nearly 30 million megawatt hours between 2019 and 2025 growth that outpaces every other state except Texas, which is significantly larger in both geography and population. The findings come from the U.S. Energy Information Administration's Annual Electric Power Industry Report, with preliminary data for 2025 drawn from the agency's Monthly Electric Power Industry Report published in February 2026.

Data Centers at the Center of Demand Growth

The EIA attributes Virginia's extraordinary electricity sales growth primarily to a dense concentration of data centers operating within the state.

The PJM Interconnection's Dominion zone, which covers Virginia, currently serves the largest concentration of data centers in the world. The region became a global hotspot for this industry due to several converging factors: its fiber optic connectivity, the availability of land, and an established power infrastructure that made it attractive to technology companies seeking to site large-scale computing facilities. Beyond data centers, the EIA also identified electric vehicle adoption and building electrification as contributing factors to the growth in electricity sales in Virginia, though the data center expansion represents the dominant driver behind the sharp upward trajectory.

Peak Loads Rising Sharply Across Seasons

The scale of Virginia's electricity demand growth becomes even more pronounced when examining peak load figures.

Summer peak load in PJM's Dominion zone reached 23,905 megawatts in 2025, a figure that is 23% higher than the comparable measurement in 2019. The increase in winter peak demand has been even more striking: winter peak load in the Dominion zone hit 25,413 megawatts during the 2025–26 winter season, representing a 45% increase compared to the 2019–20 winter season. The EIA's Hourly Electric Grid Monitor data underscores just how concentrated this demand spike has become in recent years.

Of the top 50 peak hourly loads recorded in the Dominion zone between 2019 and 2025, all but three of them occurred in either 2024 or 2025. Specifically, 15 of those peak load events took place in 2024, and 32 occurred in 2025, reflecting an acceleration in high-demand periods that utilities and grid operators must now plan for on an ongoing basis.

PJM Projects Continued Growth Through the Decade

PJM Interconnection, the regional transmission organization that operates the electrical grid across 13 states in the mid-Atlantic region and the District of Columbia, has released its 2026 Long-Term Load Forecast Report, which includes projections for each of its transmission zones. According to that report, PJM expects the Dominion zone to experience the largest absolute increase in summer peak demand of any zone within its footprint during the period from 2026 through 2030, with data center load growth cited as the primary driver behind that projection.

PJM is forecasting that peak summer load in the Dominion zone will grow at an average rate of 5.4% per year over the next 10 years. That figure, while still substantial, represents a downward revision from the 6.3% annual growth rate that PJM projected in its 2025 forecast. The revision reflects updated modeling assumptions, though the underlying trajectory remains one of the steepest anticipated demand growth curves in the country.

Grid Operators and Utilities Deploying Multiple Strategies

As Virginia's grid faces mounting demand pressures, utilities and market participants are deploying a range of strategies to manage peak load and ensure reliability.

The EIA identified demand response programs as one tool being used, which typically involve incentivizing large customers to reduce consumption during high-demand periods. Energy storage solutions are also being incorporated into grid planning, alongside upgrades at facilities with spare interconnection capacity. Investment in broader infrastructure updates is another avenue being pursued by market participants to maintain grid reliability as demand continues to climb.

The EIA also noted that improving load forecasting capabilities has emerged as a specific priority, particularly as it relates to predicting data center load. The challenge is complicated by what the agency described as the rapid deployment and evolving technologies associated with data center operations, making it difficult to model demand with the same precision as more traditional commercial or industrial customers.