Building the Reliable and Resilient Grid That Virginia Needs: Why Transmission Investment Is a Consumer Issue

As Texas’s former chief consumer advocate and a former Commissioner at the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT), I spent nearly six years working to keep electricity affordable for Texas consumers, while ensuring our electric grid remained reliable and resilient. At the Texas Office of Public Utility Counsel, I helped secure nearly $1.5 billion in annual utility bill savings for Texas consumers by challenging unnecessary utility spending and ensuring ratepayers only paid for investments that truly benefited them. At the PUCT, I helped lead a historic transmission buildout into the Permian Basin Region in West Texas and the Rio Grande Valley to serve rapidly rising electricity demand.

About the Virginia Valley Link Transmission Project

My experience during and after Winter Storm Uri in 2021 reinforced just how critically important “keeping the lights on” is for the lives, safety, and welfare of people. The storm left millions of Texans without power for days, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of people and billions of dollars in financial losses. That experience is why I believe investing in transmission infrastructure is not just justified for a reliable and resilient electric grid, but also for the welfare and safety of consumers. 

The Valley Link Transmission project, a portfolio of two 765-kV transmission lines through Maryland, West Virginia, and Virginia, is a smart, future-focused investment that will help ensure Virginians continue to have reliable, resilient, and affordable electric service.

Rapidly rising demand in Virginia

First, Virginia’s electricity demand is rising much faster than anyone expected. Data centers, new industrial and manufacturing facilities, population growth, and a growing economy are all putting pressure on the state’s grid. The U.S. Energy Information Administration reports that Virginia’s electricity sales grew faster from 2019 to 2025 than any other state except Texas, while the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission predicts Virginia may need twice as much electricity within the next decade.

This is not a challenge that can be addressed later. It represents a pending infrastructure emergency that could ultimately threaten grid reliability if left unaddressed. When the electric grid cannot keep up with electricity demand, consumers pay the price through reliability problems, higher costs, economic losses, and their own safety. I experienced this firsthand during Uri in Texas.

Some critics argue that Virginia must choose between investing in their grid and keeping their electricity affordable. These issues are not mutually exclusive. Congestion caused by an inadequate transmission system increases the cost of delivering electricity, while reactive infrastructure investments ultimately cost consumers more in the long run. Proactive, well-planned investments, like Valley Link, help utilities better manage ratepayer cost impacts while reducing the risk of costly reliability failures. The choice is simple: pay now for a reliable and resilient electric grid or pay more later to fix problems caused by an electric grid that is unprepared to meet rising electricity demand.

Vetting did actually take place

Second, PJM Interconnection, the independent regional grid operator responsible for delivering electricity to more than 65 million people across 13 states and Washington, D.C., identified and selected Valley Link through a thorough, competitive process. That independent review demonstrates Valley Link is not simply a utility investment, but a solution to an identified reliability need.

Third, like Texas, Virginia has earned a national reputation as a top state for business. Sustaining that success depends on a reliable and resilient electric grid. Valley Link will help support continued economic growth and job creation while creating construction jobs and increasing local tax revenue, particularly in rural communities along the transmission line route.

Investing in transmission infrastructure isn’t a luxury or a “nice to have” initiative—it’s a necessary long-term investment in Virginia’s economy, energy security, and the welfare of its people. As someone who has spent my career ensuring policy decisions benefit everyday consumers, I believe Valley Link is the right and necessary step forward for Virginia and its consumers.

This article was originally published by RealClearEnergy and made available via RealClearWire.