(The Center Square) – Eighty-nine percent of registered Virginia voters surveyed in a recent poll said data centers should pay the full cost of new energy infrastructure built to serve them.

The Embold Research poll found 89% support requiring data centers to cover those costs, including 80% who strongly support the requirement. Five percent opposed it and 6% were unsure.

Electric bills were also a concern for respondents. Sixty-four percent said they were extremely or very concerned about their household electricity bill, while another 23% were somewhat concerned.

Asked how much of a priority reducing electricity bills should be for Virginia lawmakers, 31% called it a top priority and 51% called it an important priority.

Embold Research surveyed 1,017 registered Virginia voters online Aug. 26-31. Respondents were recruited through targeted social media advertising and text messages sent to voters identified through voter-file data.

The survey was commissioned by the Virginia Distributed Solar Alliance and Deploy Action Labs and has a modeled 3.2% margin of error. Results were weighted by age, gender, race and ethnicity, education, 2024 vote and region.

The findings come as Virginia policymakers consider how infrastructure costs tied to large data center loads should be divided between those customers and other electric ratepayers.

Gov. Abigail Spanberger unveiled a Data Center Accountability Framework on Sept. 18 that calls for utilities to allocate a greater share of transmission and generation costs to data centers and other large-load customers.

Spanberger’s accompanying executive order directs the state’s chief energy officer to advocate with utilities, the State Corporation Commission and PJM Interconnection for solutions that shield households from infrastructure costs driven by large data center loads, including assigning costs from PJM’s Reliability Backstop Procurement to the data centers causing them.

Some provisions are being implemented through executive action, while others would require legislation or regulatory changes.

The poll found 69% of respondents opposed construction of data centers in Virginia, while 25% supported it. When asked about construction in their local area, 77% opposed it and 17% supported it.

Asked what they believed was contributing to higher electricity bills, 46% selected growing energy demand, with the survey citing electric vehicles and artificial intelligence data centers as examples. Utility companies operating as monopolies were selected by 39%, while 34% selected utility companies seeking large profits.

Twenty-three percent selected the survey response “state regulators rubber-stamping utility rate increases.” Respondents could choose up to three answers.

The survey also asked about NextEra Energy’s proposed acquisition of Dominion Energy.

Sixty percent said they had heard nothing about the proposed merger. Before respondents were given additional information about the deal, 6% supported it, 35% opposed it and 59% were unsure.

Among possible conditions on the merger, 77% supported requiring a guarantee that customer rates would not increase because of the transaction, while 74% supported requiring data centers to pay the full cost of serving them.

The State Corporation Commission is reviewing the proposed acquisition. Local public hearings are scheduled Oct. 7 in Newport News and Oct. 9 in Fairfax County. Additional public testimony is scheduled Nov. 5, 9 and 10, and the evidentiary hearing begins Nov. 17 in Richmond.