The Dominion battery program Virginia regulators are reviewing is not open yet
A Dominion battery program Virginia homeowners could eventually join would pay customers for sending stored power from home batteries, smart thermostats and other small devices back to the grid when demand is high. Dominion asked state regulators to approve a pilot of up to 450 megawatts, running through July 1, 2028, and at least 15 megawatts of that total, about a thirtieth of the whole pilot, is required by law to go specifically toward incentives for homeowners who add batteries. No payment rate for that incentive is public yet, so nothing is enrollable today.
The residential carve out is about 3.3% of the total pilot cap, a share calculated here by dividing 15 by 450, not stated directly by the source.
Show the numbers
| Total pilot cap | 450 |
| Residential battery carve out | 15 |
The law behind the numbers, and what it required Dominion to file
The Community Energy Act, House Bill 2346, made Virginia the first state to require a utility scale virtual power plant, the industry term for a program like this one. Governor Glenn Youngkin signed the law on May 2, 2025, and it gave Dominion Energy Virginia until December 1, 2025 to file a pilot plan with state regulators. Dominion filed on time, folding the virtual power plant pilot into a broader December 2025 filing that also redesigns other demand side programs the company runs.
The annual report Dominion and Virginia Electric and Power Company filed with federal securities regulators in February 2026 states that the virtual power plant piece of that filing carries its own 64 million dollar cost cap, inside a larger 221 million dollar filing that also redesigns 2 energy efficiency programs and adds 7 new demand response programs, with room to run 15% over that cap if needed. That level of detail comes only from the filing itself, not from news coverage of the law.
The virtual power plant pilot cost cap is about 29% of the total filing, calculated here by dividing 64 by 221, not stated directly by the source.
Show the numbers
| Total December 2025 DSM Riders filing cost cap | 221 |
| Virtual power plant pilot cost cap | 64 |
What lawmakers and the utility say it will do
Delegate Phil Hernandez, the sponsor of the law in the Virginia House of Delegates, describes what the pilot is meant to prove.
Collectively, all of these technologies can function as a power plant, putting power onto the grid although they are dispersed.
Delegate Phil Hernandez, sponsor of the Community Energy Act in the Virginia House of Delegates. Source 2.
Craig Carper, a Dominion spokesperson, cautions that the pilot will not replace the need for new power plants, saying the company wants to use the tools it already has before building more.
For us to be responsible, we do have to build.
Craig Carper, Dominion spokesperson. Source 2.
What a homeowner still cannot do
Dominion must file the actual payment rate homeowners would earn by November 15, 2026. State regulators were expected to rule on the underlying pilot sometime in the summer of 2026, per the most recent source available, published in June 2026, but nothing confirms whether that ruling has happened. Customer enrollment is not expected to start until late 2026. The rider that pays for the pilot would add about 20 cents a month to an average residential bill, whether or not that customer ever enrolls a battery. Until Dominion publishes an actual rate and regulators rule, the honest answer for a Virginia homeowner is what to watch for, not a number to expect.