NEW Sierra Club Report: Dominion Energy VA Backslide Clean Energy Transition

RICHMOND, VA - Dominion Energy has once again ranked among the dirtiest utilities in the nation, according to the Sierra Club's annual Dirty Truth About Utility Climate Pledgesreport. The 2025 analysis finds that Dominion's plans for renewable energy are not only failing to keep pace with national peers- they are abandoning climate and environmental justice commitments.

The Dirty Truth About Utility Climate Pledges is an annual report that grades 75 utilities across the country on their plans to retire coal plants by 2030, avoid new gas plants through 2035, and transition to clean energy through 2035. This year, Dominion Virginia earned an "F" with its 0% score. This is the lowest score Dominion has ever earned since the report was established in 2021.

Faced with rapidly rising electricity demand from Virginia's explosive data center growth, Dominion is doubling down on fossil fuels instead of scaling up clean energy. This trend is echoed throughout the report, with an average score of 15 points across 75 observed large utilities. Dominion Energy is at the bottom of this regression trend.

"For years now, we have watched Dominion Energy lean into fossil fuels, saddling Virginians with higher and higher energy bills and plans to intensify pollution in our communities. We know renewable energy is not only cleaner, but cheaper and faster," said Mary-Stuart Torbeck, Campaign Representative for the Beyond Coal Campaign at Sierra Club. "Dominion has consistently used data centers as an excuse for keeping its coal plants online and building new gas plants. But there are renewable options paired with battery storage that will keep the lights on without burdening our communities."

In an interactive webpage, users can see their utility's score and what progress-if any-the utility has made toward transitioning to cleaner, more affordable energy since the first version of the report in 2021.

"It is alarming that for the first time since 2021, utilities are regressing on their clean energy transition," said Sierra Club Chief Program Officer Holly Bender. "By adding more gas and keeping costly coal plants online, utility companies are ignoring renewable energy-the cheapest form of energy-and forcing their customers to pay more. As energy costs rise and extreme weather becomes more frequent, now is the time to phase out polluting, volatile, expensive fossil fuels and invest in stable, reliable, and affordable, clean energy."

About the Sierra Club

The Sierra Club is America's largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit https://www.sierraclub.org.