Dominion Energy Inc.'s CEO on Oct. 31 said he does not expect a potential party shift in the upcoming Virginia gubernatorial election to negatively impact the company's massive offshore wind project, despite Trump administration actions against the resource.
Democratic candidate Abigail Spanberger, a former member of Congress, is facing off against Republican candidate Winsome Earle-Sears, now the state's lieutenant governor, in the Nov. 4 election.
The current governor, Glenn Youngkin, is a Republican who has supported many of President Donald Trump's policies, but also backs Dominion's 2,587-MW Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project. The Trump administration has halted projects in other states, notably those led by Democratic governors.
"Let's start with the fact that every statewide candidate running, regardless of party, supports [Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind]," Dominion Chair, President and CEO Robert Blue said on the third-quarter 2025 earnings call in response to an analyst's question about risks to the project. "And that's consistent with the bipartisan support that this project has gotten at every level — federal, state, local government, including congressional leadership."
Blue called the project "critical" to infrastructure upgrades underway at Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach, Virginia. "And if you stop it now, it causes energy inflation," Blue added.
"So, it's not surprising that we're seeing bipartisan support at all levels of government, and we expect that to continue after the election," the CEO said.
Dominion Energy Virginia, known legally as Virginia Electric and Power Co., is building the 176-turbine wind farm about 27 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach in three phases, with the full project expected to be complete by the end of 2026.
"The project is now two-thirds complete and just a few months away from delivering much-needed electricity to our customers," Blue said.
Dominion, however, again increased the cost of the wind farm, to $11.2 billion.
"The updated costs this quarter reflect the accelerated recognition of steel tariffs through the end of 2026, whereas we were previously recognizing all tariff costs on a quarter-by-quarter basis," Blue said, adding the company recorded a "modest charge" of $50 million after tax in the third quarter.
Cost-sharing mechanism
Dominion, in August, increased the cost of the offshore wind project by $70 million to about $10.9 billion, which included $193 million of estimated tariff impacts, as part of its quarterly construction update filed with the Virginia State Corporation Commission.
That followed two previous increases earlier this year. In February, Dominion increased the overall cost of Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind from $9.8 billion to $10.7 billion. The company further increased the cost in May by another $120 million, to about $10.8 billion.
Roughly $8.2 billion has been invested in the project as of the end of the third quarter.
The remaining $3 billion in costs will be split between Dominion and project partner Stonepeak Partners LP.
As part of Dominion's sale of a 50% noncontrolling stake in Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind to Stonepeak, which closed in October 2024, the investment firm agreed to fund 50% of remaining project costs up to $11.3 billion.
Dominion also previously entered into a settlement agreement in October 2022 tied to any potential cost overruns.
Under the settlement, approved by the SCC, Dominion shareholders and ratepayers split any costs in the range of $10.3 billion to $11.3 billion.
If the cost increases to a range of $11.3 billion to $11.8 billion, Dominion would fund two-thirds of the overrun, with the remaining portion funded by Stonepeak, according to Dominion Executive Vice President and CFO Steven Ridge.
Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind's levelized cost of energy, meanwhile, increased to $84/MWh from $63/MWh based on what management attributed to lower forecast prices on renewable energy certificates.
Under a proposed rider filed Oct. 31 with the SCC, the company forecasts a revenue requirement of $665 million in the 2026 rate year.
Data center demand
Dominion also continues to see "robust demand from data centers," the CEO said.
Dominion serves the largest data center market in the US, and by many accounts, the world, in Northern Virginia.
"Our data center load just continues to grow and the demand continues to grow, which is something considering that we've connected 450 data centers already, and we've got more than 25% of our sales going to data centers in Virginia," Blue said.
The company has about 47 GW of contracted data center capacity in its pipeline, up from about 40 GW in December 2024.
These data center projects are broken into three progress levels: substation engineering letter of authorization, construction letter of authorization and electric service agreement.
"We're developing resources across distribution, transmission and generation to ensure we meet this critical need on a timely basis, while also taking active steps to safeguard all of our customers from the risk of paying more than their fair share for reliable and affordable electric service," Blue said.
Results
Dominion on Oct. 31 reported third-quarter 2025 operating earnings of $921 million, or $1.06 per share, compared to operating earnings of $836 million, or 98 cents per share, for the third quarter of 2024. The S&P Capital IQ consensus normalized EPS estimate for the quarter was 95 cents.
Dominion also narrowed its 2025 operating earnings guidance range to $3.33 to $3.48 per share and reaffirmed its 5% to 7% annual operating EPS growth rate through 2029.
