Spanberger on Mission to Make Virginia More Unaffordable
In her first address to the Virginia General Assembly, according to Cardinal News, Gov. Abigail Spanberger made clear that instead of confronting real drivers of rising energy costs, she’s doubling down on regulations that will make electricity more expensive and burden families and businesses.
Spanberger’s centerpiece energy proposal, rejoining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), is emblematic of this misplaced priority. Though she claims it will lower bills and fund efficiency programs, cap-and-trade schemes like RGGI inherently inflate costs for utilities and ratepayers, and that the only guaranteed outcome is more regulatory complexity and higher bills.
Rather than focusing on expanding reliable, affordable generation or addressing the real stress on Virginia’s grid, including the massive demand surge from data centers that dominate Northern Virginia’s landscape, Spanberger is chasing ideological climate policy.
Her agenda also leans into battery storage mandates and broader “green” reforms that risk layering additional costs on consumers without clear evidence they will deliver the affordability gains she promises. Not to mention dependence on China.
Spanberger’s early energy strategy looks more like regulatory overreach framed as climate virtue. Virginians worried about rising utility bills deserve leadership that prioritizes lowering costs and bolstering grid reliability, not another round of bureaucratic green mandates.
January 21, 2026