HB 155 Virginia House of Delegates · 2026 Regular Session

Electric utilities; certificate of operation for high-load facilities.

Summary
Electric utilities; certificate of operation for high-load facilities. Prohibits any person from operating a high-load facility, defined in the bill as a facility whose electricity demand exceeds 25 megawatts that was not operating before July 1, 2026, without first having obtained a certificate of operation from the State Corporation Commission. The bill includes factors for the Commission to consider in reviewing a petition to operate a high-load facility. The bill establishes a presumption that a high-load facility shall be considered to have met certain requirements if the high-load facility has secured sufficient contracts for energy storage resources or zero-carbon electric generating resources or that the high-load facility has a plan to implement sufficient demand reduction measures. The bill also requires the Commission to consider certain factors in a review of a petition for a certificate to operate a high-load facility, including whether there is sufficient energy, capacity, and grid infrastructure to support the operation of the high-load facility and whether the operation of the high-load facility would create an unreasonable cross-subsidy across customers served by the incumbent electric utility.
Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared
Introduction
Jan 2026
Committee Review
Floor Vote
Governor
Introduced Jan 6, 2026 Last action Feb 18, 2026
Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
7
Key actions
2
Committee
4
Feb 10, 2026
Lower · Passed
Subcommittee recommends laying on the table (9-Y 0-N)
lower
Feb 10, 2026
Lower · Passed
House subcommittee offered
lower
Jan 15, 2026
Committee
Assigned HCL sub: Subcommittee #3
lower
Jan 6, 2026
Committee
Referred to Committee on Labor and Commerce
lower
1 primary · 0 co-sponsors

Sponsors

Role
Legislator
Party
State
District
P
Photo of Josh Thomas
Josh Thomas
DDemocratic
VA
21