Virginia’s SB621 requires utilities to use grid utilization metrics to more effectively manage grid loads, reduce energy losses.
As electricity demand grows from data centers, electrification, economic development, and extreme weather, policymakers are looking for ways to get more out of the electric grid that already exists. One emerging focus is “grid utilization,” or better measuring how much existing transmission capacity is actually being used before assuming new infrastructure is the only answer. Virginia is moving in this direction with SB621/HB434 requiring major utilities to assess how grid capacity is used, and then using that information to deploy new technologies to increase capacity without increasing the infrastructure’s physical footprint.
For state and county policymakers, this matters because grid planning is increasingly tied to land use, utility costs, economic development, and community impacts. Tools like grid-enhancing technologies, battery storage, and better system planning could help move more power through existing infrastructure faster and with less disruption than building new transmission alone. Increasingly grid modernization is no longer just a technical utility issue, it is becoming core public policy that affects development approvals, energy affordability, and how communities prepare for future growth.
