Virginia Electricity Rates per kWh: Dominion, Appalachian and Big Winter Bills

Dominion’s rise has been reported in pieces. Added together, base rates and fuel debt put about $23.83 on a 1,000 kWh month over two years, and in a Virginia January, with twice the use of April, per-kWh parts of that grow further. Appalachian Power’s ruling is due by 15 January.

$23.83 a month added in two years

Dominion Energy Virginia’s bill has been changed by two separate proceedings, and most coverage reports them one at a time. Put together for a typical 1,000 kWh home, this is what has been approved since late 2025.

The typical bill stood at $149.92 before the base rate order, so this adds about 16%. The sum is our arithmetic. Other riders move too, so your bill will not rise by exactly this amount, and the figures come from two orders and news coverage of them.

The Commission allowed less than Dominion sought on base rates, and it let the company bond about $922 million of unrecovered fuel costs over seven years rather than one. Dominion said that kept the increase far below the nearly $22 a month customers would otherwise have faced. The trade-off is that $2.26 a month goes on interest and financing, and this is the second bond: customers are still paying off $1.27 billion from 2023 until 2031. A Commission staff witness warned that repeating this pattern is not sustainable.

Why Dominion ran $922 million short

A utility’s fuel factor is a forecast. Dominion’s, set at 3.7648¢ per kWh for July 2026 to June 2027, is the amount now approved. When real costs exceed the forecast, the gap is deferred and collected later. Dominion said purchased power costs rose nearly 30% in a year and natural gas more than 15%. Fuel is passed through without profit, so this part of the bill is about market prices rather than a return to the company.

The next update is semi-annual: Dominion must file changes to the Deferred Fuel Cost Charge for approval, so that $10.23 is not guaranteed to stay still.

Appalachian Power: $13.09 possible from 1 March

In the southwest, a decision is close. Appalachian Power has asked to raise the average residential bill by $9.10 a month through base rates, worth $61.4 million a year, and a further $3.99 for renewable energy projects in a separate case. The Commission held its hearing on 20 October and must rule by 15 January 2027. Nothing changes before 1 March.

The company’s homes already pay the most of any large Virginia utility: 17.16¢ per kWh all in during 2025, against 15.20¢ at Dominion. Its last base case added only about $1.39 a month, after it sought about $10, so the outcome may look quite different from the request. Its biggest recent increase came through fuel: $20.17 a month on 1,000 kWh from November 2022, with recovery spread over two years. Two delegates told the Commission a new increase would be an “unbearable burden”.

Winter multiplies every per-kWh change

Virginia is odd for a Southern state. Its peak bill is January. The average home used 1,509 kWh in January 2026, twice April’s 748, and paid $240, the highest bill of the year. So every per-kWh charge above lands hardest in the cold months. If the $10.23 fuel-related cost scales with use, it is about $15 in January and $8 in April.

That is also why the typical bill ranks 7th of 51 while the price ranks only 21st; by use, Virginia is 12th. A January and a July bill together give the fairest picture of a year.

Riders and the basic charge

Both big utilities bill a basic charge plus per-kWh charges and a list of riders. Add every per-kWh line for your price and enter the basic charge separately, or pick your utility to use its 2025 average.

Who pays for the data centers

The November 2025 order created a rate class, GS-5, for customers using 25 megawatts or more, most of them data centers. The bigger question, how to divide the cost of the grid that this growth requires, was left to Dominion’s next review.

Co-ops and cities outside these orders

NOVEC, the largest co-op in the north, charged 12.60¢ in 2025 and Rappahannock 15.49¢. Harrisonburg charged 11.51¢, Manassas 12.31¢ and Danville, the largest city system, 15.81¢. They have their own fuel and supply costs but are not covered by the Dominion orders above.

EIA-861 for 2025: each utility’s revenue from homes divided by the kWh they used, so monthly charges are spread into the price.

Twelve calm years, then three steps

From 2010 to 2021 the average rose by under 2¢, from 10.45¢ to 12.0¢. Then about 11% in 2022, another cent in 2023 and the largest step in 2026, reaching 16.64¢ over the last 12 months, 59% above 2010. Virginia has still paid less than the US average every year.

Dearer than Carolina, cheaper than Maryland

North Carolina, Georgia and Florida paid less. Maryland, DC and Delaware paid more.

Across the border: Tennessee 13.61¢, Kentucky 13.95¢, North Carolina 14.79¢, West Virginia 15.53¢, Maryland 21.18¢, District of Columbia 24.48¢.

All 50 states and DC on one page, with a map.

What we could not confirm

WTKR reported the fuel orders and the $7.97 and $2.26 figures. We could not read the Commission’s fuel orders directly. We scaled the winter example in proportion to use, which is an approximation. Appalachian Power’s request is a request, reported by Cardinal News.

The series is calm: only April 2021, up about 10%, and July 2023, down about 8%, moved by 8% or more. The latest months are preliminary.

Figures to August 2026 (EIA marks recent months preliminary), utility figures for 2025, refreshed 3 November 2026. How every number in this series is made and checked.

• Virginia, every month since 2010 (CSV): price per kWh, kWh and bill per home, and the US price.
• Every state, DC and the US (CSV)
• Everything above with the utility and supplier figures (JSON)

EIA data is in the public domain: credit the U.S. Energy Information Administration. A link back is welcome.

Questions

Electricity rates in other states

Version history

• 2.0 (6 November 2026): rebuilt around the 2025 base rate and 2026 fuel orders: a combined 1,000 kWh total, why the fuel debt arose, the pending Appalachian Power case, and how winter use changes the effect.
• 1.0.1 (November 2026): wording and page heading tidied; no figures changed.
• 1.0 (November 2026): first published.