ModelVersion 0.1Compiling data
Large-Load Cost Table
What a 50 MW connection costs and takes in 15 US markets: study fees, security per MW, minimum bills, contract terms, exit fees and realistic energization year, from tariffs and dockets.
2033realistic energization year for a new 50 MW load in Northern Virginia, Dominion Energy, from a 2026 application. Public headline as of August 21, 2026.
- $75M
- Collateral for 50 MW under Dominion Schedule GS-5 at $1.5 million per MW, LBNL and Brattle brief, August 10 2026
- 14 years
- Dominion GS-5 minimum term including a four-year ramp; AEP Ohio DCT up to 12; Georgia Power up to 15
- 85%
- Minimum bill as a share of contract demand, Dominion GS-5 (distribution and transmission) and AEP Ohio DCT cap
- 15
- Markets side by side, each cell linked to the tariff sheet, PUC order or ISO document it came from
What it covers
Fifteen US markets for a 50 MW connection: Northern Virginia (Dominion), Columbus (AEP Ohio), Atlanta (Georgia Power), Dallas-Fort Worth (Oncor), Houston (CenterPoint), West and South Texas (AEP Texas), the Carolinas (Duke), Phoenix (APS and SRP), Salt Lake City (Rocky Mountain Power), Louisiana (Entergy), Colorado (Xcel), Chicago (ComEd), the Bay Area (PG&E) and Northern Indiana (I&M). For each: MW threshold, whether the rule applies at 50 MW, study fee, security or collateral in dollars, minimum bill, contract term, ramp, exit fee, CIAC exposure and the realistic energization year with its basis.
- Cadence
- Updated as dockets move; reviewed monthly; energization years revisited each quarter
- Compiled from
- Utility tariff sheets and PUC orders (Virginia SCC PUR-2025-00058 and PUR-2026-00056, PUCO 24-508-EL-ATA, Georgia PSC docket 55378, PUCT Projects 58480 and 58481, Oregon PUC Order 26-154, CPUC D.25-07-039); ERCOT large-load status decks; PJM BRA results; the LBNL and Brattle large-load rate-design brief (August 2026); EIA industrial rates by state; JLL Global Data Center Outlook 2026 for time to power
- Delivered as
- Excel workbook, Web dashboard
- Updates
- Quarterly updates, one year included
- Onboarding
- Onboarding call
- Support
- Ad hoc analyst calls
- Tier
- Table free; history Pro; alerts Institutional
Who uses it and what it decides
- Datacenter developers and site selectorsWhich market energizes first, what the deposit per MW is, and how much cash a portfolio has locked in security.
- Factory owners adding 20 to 100 MWWhich regime a plant expansion lands in (below Texas's 75 MW, above AEP Ohio's 25 MW, inside Georgia's 100 MW rule) and what that costs.
- Lenders and investorsMinimum-bill and exit-fee exposure over a 12 to 15 year term, market by market.
Methodology
What the headline is
2033 is the year a 50 MW load applying to Dominion Energy Virginia in 2026 can realistically expect to energize. The basis is JLL’s Global Data Center Outlook 2026 (p.18), which puts Northern Virginia at about seven years to power for a new 50 MW site, and Dominion’s own load pipeline of about 70 GW against a 24.6 GW system peak as reported by Utility Dive in February 2026. The shortest markets in the table (Houston, Northern Indiana, Salt Lake City) are 2028 to 2029. The full column with its basis is in energization-years.csv.
The headline is the longest realistic energization year among the 15 markets. It moves when a utility publishes a schedule that changes it.
What it is compiled from
Version 0.1 is tariffs, orders and ISO documents. No developer interviews yet.
- Virginia. Dominion Schedule GS-5 approved 25 November 2025 (PUR-2025-00058): 25 MW threshold, 14-year term with a four-year ramp, 85% minimum for distribution and transmission and 60% for generation, $1.5 million per MW collateral. Mandatory CIAC for direct-connect transmission ordered 31 July 2026 (PUR-2026-00056 final order). Terms as summarised in the LBNL and Brattle brief, pp.4 to 7.
- Ohio. AEP Ohio Schedule DCT, approved 9 July 2025: $50,000 study fee for 50 to 100 MW, 85% minimum, ramp plus eight years, 36-month exit fee, collateral of 50% of term minimum charges. 17,861 MW under contract at February 2026 against an 8,000 to 10,500 MW peak. Tariff page.
- Georgia. PSC rule of 23 January 2025: 100 MW and above, contracts up to 15 years, upstream cost recovery.
- Texas. SB6 (signed 20 June 2025, 75 MW threshold); PUCT proposed 16 TAC 25.194 (12 March 2026): $50,000 per MW security plus $50,000 per MW fee; ERCOT Batch Zero approved 18 June 2026 with 438 GW tracked; the Governor’s 3 August 2026 audit directive at 474 GW.
- Oregon, Colorado, Indiana, Carolinas, California. PUC Order 26-154 (PGE Schedule 96, 10 to 30 years); Xcel’s April 2026 filing; I&M’s Cause 46097 settlement; Duke’s HLF proposal; CPUC D.25-07-039 and PG&E Rule 30.
- Capacity and rates. PJM BRA clearing prices from the 2028/29 results report; EIA Table 5.6.A industrial rates (Texas 6.58 cents per kWh, Virginia 9.31, Ohio 9.89, June 2026).
Every cell prints its verification status: VERIFIED against the primary document, or SECONDARY with the outlet named.
What is free and what is paid
- Free: the 15-market table as published in What 50 MW Costs in 15 US Markets, this page, and the Large-Load Interconnection Cost calculator with default inputs.
- Pro: the table’s history as dockets move, the 20 MW and 100 MW scale factors, and the minimum-bill cash schedules by market.
- Institutional: the workbook and dashboard, docket alerts when a cell changes, custom markets, quarterly updates for a year, an onboarding call and ad hoc calls.
Articles built on it
What 50 MW Costs in 15 US Markets, The 2 MW Plant Service Upgrade Nobody Budgets Right, A Factory Owner’s Guide to the PJM Capacity Charge and Datacenter Construction Is Eating Your Electricians. The rule calendar lives on the Large-Load Policy Tracker.
Version history
- 0.1 (August 2026). Fifteen markets. Tariffs and orders through 20 August 2026 (PUCT good-cause exception for ERCOT). Study fees and exit-fee amounts not published for Dominion; cells say so.
What version 1 adds
Developer interviews on actual study outcomes and actual energization dates against the tariff’s promise, and the utility’s study-queue position where a utility publishes one. Interview counts print here only when true.
Known gaps
Dominion’s study fee and exit-fee amounts were not in the sources opened. CenterPoint and ComEd security figures are implied averages from company statements (about $64,000 and $250,000 per MW), not tariff sheets, and are marked as such. Texas’s $50,000 per MW security is a proposed rule and does not apply at 50 MW. The table carries the 75 MW case beside it.
Questions
Why 50 MW?
It is the size most new tariffs are written around (median threshold 25 MW across 55 tariffs in the LBNL and Brattle brief) and it sits under Texas's 75 MW line, which makes the regimes comparable. Scale factors for 20 and 100 MW are in the Pro table.
How is the energization year chosen?
From the utility's or ISO's own statements where they exist (ERCOT Batch Zero dates, CenterPoint's 2029 plan, AEP Ohio's contract schedule) and from JLL's 2026 market-by-market time-to-power figures where they do not. The basis is printed beside every year.
Does the table include the capacity charge?
PJM markets carry the BRA clearing price ($333.44 per MW-day for 2027/28, $325.00 for 2028/29) as a separate column. The PJM Capacity Charge Estimator does the bill arithmetic.
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