Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative's latest rate increase took effect this Sunday, adding roughly $13.35 a month to a typical residential bill for members using 1,000 kilowatt-hours of power. The co-op says the combined hit comes from two separate changes: an updated Power Cost Adjustment and a 5% bump to its distribution charge, both of which kicked in Nov. 1.
According to NOVEC, the Power Cost Adjustment alone will add about $11.62 to the monthly bill of a residential member using 1,000 kWh, while the distribution rate increase accounts for the rest of the $13.35 total. The cooperative, which serves customers across Loudoun County and neighboring Prince William County, says the changes are needed to keep up with rising costs. “These adjustments are necessary to ensure we can continue providing the safe, reliable electric service our members expect while addressing significant increases in operating and power supply costs,” the utility said on its website.
NOVEC has stressed that the power-cost piece of the increase is not padded for profit. The cooperative says it passes through the actual cost of purchased power to customers “without any mark-up,” framing the hike as a direct reflection of what it pays on the wholesale market rather than a markup built into its own margins.
Data Centers and a Strained Grid
The timing lands squarely amid a broader regional story about data centers and the electric grid straining to keep up with them. As reported by the Richmond Times-Dispatch, this marks the third wholesale power rate increase in 12 months, and Loudoun County is often described as sitting near the top of the list of global data center capitals. PJM Interconnection, which manages the electric grid serving 13 states and the District of Columbia, has said it expects the zone covering Virginia to see the largest absolute increase in summer peak demand nationwide between 2026 and 2030, largely because of data center load growth, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
That demand is already showing up in wholesale prices. PJM's total wholesale power cost jumped 46% in the first seven months of 2026 compared with the same stretch in 2025, rising to $116.53 per megawatt-hour, according to Utility Dive. The outlet also reported that PJM's independent market monitor attributed 9% of wholesale power prices through July — about $10.48 per megawatt-hour — directly to existing and forecast data center load.
NOVEC Says Residential Members Aren't Footing the Data Center Bill
NOVEC pushes back on the idea that residential customers are subsidizing the data center buildout in its territory. The cooperative says it has collected more than $1.7 billion in upfront payments for data-center infrastructure, and that those costs are not shared with residential members.
Katherine Bond, NOVEC's vice president of commercial operations, discussed advance payments, the Prince William Times reported. The State Corporation Commission approved a large-customer rate class for Dominion in November 2025.
A Wider Pattern Across Virginia's Grid
NOVEC's increase isn't happening in isolation. Dominion has been pursuing roughly $1.5 billion in transmission-cost recovery through a charge known as Rider T-1, and at one point revised its estimate of the average residential bill impact in that matter down from about $2.90 to $0.94 a month, according to Utility Dive. A 2024 state audit, separately reported by the Prince William Times, projected Dominion could spend $16 billion to $18 billion on data-center transmission infrastructure by 2040.
The scale of NOVEC's own shift toward data centers has been building for years. A 2025 report from the Prince William Times found the cooperative expected the number of data-center buildings it powers to grow from 58 to 178 by 2035, and projected that data centers would account for more than 95% of NOVEC's energy sales by 2032, up from 65% at the time. That same report estimated 2025's cost increases would add about $10 a month to a typical 1,000 kWh household bill — a figure that has now climbed further with this month's adjustment.
What's Driving the Latest Hike
NOVEC has pointed to a supply-and-demand imbalance across the broader power market as a root cause, saying rising electricity demand combined with new generation that hasn't kept pace “has led to increased market prices for electricity.” The cooperative has also told customers it carefully forecasts and plans for power use as it manages the growth.
For now, members in Loudoun and Prince William counties are left absorbing the latest adjustment while the region's data center boom continues to reshape how power gets priced and paid for across Northern Virginia.
