What Does Virginia's New Energy Law Mean for Your Business?

If your business in Virginia uses more than 5 MW of electricity, you now have a choice you didn't have three months ago when it comes to purchasing energy.

Virginia’s governor signed HB 921 on April 13, 2026 and the law took effect July 1. The key change: any nonresidential customer of Dominion Energy or Appalachian Power with a noncoincident peak demand above 5 MW can now shop for electricity from a competitive supplier.

What changed

Virginia has had partial electricity deregulation on the books for years, but a hard cap severely limited who could actually participate. The old rules restricted total competitive load to 1% of each utility's previous-year peak demand, which effectively kept the market closed to most buyers. HB 921 removes that cap entirely, opening access to any qualifying nonresidential customer without a queue or lottery system.

Two other provisions matter for businesses considering the switch:

• The return window shortened. Businesses that move to a competitive supplier and later want to return to default utility service now need only 18 months' notice, down from 5 years. That's a significant reduction in commitment risk.
• The threshold is load-based, not size-based. A 5 MW peak demand threshold captures light manufacturers, large office buildings, mid-size industrial facilities, and multi-location portfolios that aggregate above that level.

Why it matters now

More than $92 billion in utility rate increases are currently proposed or enacted across the country. Businesses on default utility rates have limited leverage when those rates move. Competitive suppliers, by contrast, can offer fixed-rate contracts, index-based structures, or hybrid products that provide more cost predictability and, in the right conditions, lower rates.

Virginia is now one of 18 states plus Washington, D.C. with deregulated electricity markets. Companies operating in deregulated states routinely use competitive procurement to manage energy smarter, Virginia businesses above 5 MW now have that same option.

What to do

The law is new, the market is open, and not every supplier active in Virginia offers the same products or pricing. The right move isn't to take the first competitive offer you see, it's to understand your load profile, your risk tolerance and what contract structures actually fit your operations.

If your Virginia facilities exceed 5 MW of peak demand, this is worth a conversation. Energy CX can run a rate comparison against your current Dominion or Appalachian Power billing to show whether switching makes financial sense for your business.