Christie E. from Mesa here but dealing with Dominion Energy Virginia project. New construction data center connected 6 months ago and they put customer on Schedule GS-2 instead of Schedule LG (Large General Service). The projected demand was clearly over 1000 kW in all the engineering documents but somehow Dominion classified it as medium commercial. Customer is now pulling 1,400 kW and the rate difference is costing them $12,000 per month. Dominion claims the original application showed smaller load. Has anyone dealt with new construction misclassification where utility is blaming customer paperwork?
New Construction Wrong Rate Day One - Dominion Energy Nightmare
Phil G. from Richmond - deal with Dominion regularly. This is unfortunately common with new construction, especially data centers. Dominion's interconnection process requires load estimates but sometimes those get lost between departments. The engineering drawings and electrical permit should show the actual designed load. If those documents clearly indicate >1000 kW capacity, that's utility error regardless of what the application form said. Do you have copies of the original interconnection study?
Randy Dawson here. Christie, new construction rate classification errors are particularly frustrating because they start wrong from day one. Phil is right about the interconnection documentation being key. However, you also need to check what load information was actually provided to Dominion's customer service department vs their engineering department. Sometimes engineering knows the real load but customer service processes the account based on incomplete information. Key documents to gather: original service application, electrical permits, interconnection agreement, load study, and any correspondence about expected usage. Dominion should have record of all communications about projected load.
Thomas B. from Charleston - Dominion South Carolina territory. Had similar issue with warehouse that got put on wrong rate from startup. The problem was the application asked for "initial load" vs "full operational load" and customer provided the initial number. But the electrical permit clearly showed full capacity. Dominion eventually agreed it was their error for not asking the right questions. Virginia territory might have different policies though.
Jerome P. from Akron - FirstEnergy territory but dealt with similar new construction issues. One thing that helps is showing the customer had no choice in the rate assignment - they weren't presented with options or rate comparisons. If Dominion unilaterally assigned GS-2 without any customer input, that's administrative error. Also check if they required any deposits based on expected load - if they calculated deposits based on higher usage but assigned lower rate, that's contradictory.
Rob T. from Jacksonville - JEA territory. Data centers are tricky because the load ramp-up can take months or years depending on occupancy. Some utilities want to see actual usage before upgrading rate schedules. However, if the electrical service was sized for 1000+ kW from day one, that should determine classification regardless of initial usage. Check your service entrance capacity and transformer sizing.
Thanks everyone, especially Randy for the comprehensive approach. Phil, I do have the interconnection study which clearly shows 2.5 MW designed capacity. Jerome, great point about deposits - Dominion required $25,000 deposit which seems inconsistent with GS-2 classification. Rob, the service is definitely sized for full load with 2000A service entrance. I think we have a strong case for utility error from day one.
Kurt H. from Fargo - different utility but similar principle. The deposit amount is often the smoking gun in these cases. If they calculated deposit based on large load but assigned small commercial rate, that shows internal inconsistency. Document everything and present it as utility administrative error, not customer request for reclassification.
Jim W. from Youngstown - FirstEnergy territory. One more thought - check if Dominion has any policies about automatic rate upgrades when customers exceed thresholds for multiple months. Some utilities have triggers that should have moved your client to LG schedule automatically. If that policy exists and wasn't followed, that's additional evidence of utility error.
Final update - Dominion agreed to reclassify and provide retroactive billing adjustment back to service start date! The deposit calculation inconsistency Randy and Jerome mentioned was the key evidence. Total recovery is $73,000 for the 6 months of incorrect billing. Thanks to everyone who contributed - this forum saved my client a lot of money and frustration.