Henrico County employees are being asked to reduce their electricity use after a sharp increase in power costs is expected to add millions of dollars to the county's budget.
According to Fox Business, in a June 26 email obtained by the Henrico Citizen, County Manager John Vithoulkas informed employees that Electricity rates for county government buildings and schools increased by 25% beginning July 1.
He said the higher rates are expected to cost the county an additional $5 million during the next fiscal year.
Vithoulkas also warned that electricity prices are likely to continue rising.
"Beginning July 1st, the rate we pay for electricity used in all Henrico County government and school facilities will increase dramatically — by 25%, increasing costs by an estimated $5 million next fiscal year. We anticipate more rate increases for electricity in the years ahead," he wrote.
To help control expenses, Vithoulkas encouraged employees to adopt simple energy-saving habits throughout the workday.
His recommendations included turning off lights when leaving offices, shutting down computers at the end of the day, closing blinds to reduce indoor heat and unplugging chargers and other electronics when they are not being used.
Vithoulkas compared the effort to measures the county adopted during the Great Recession, when officials looked for ways to reduce spending across government operations.
"Those of you who have been here long enough will recall the many cost-saving measures we implemented to help navigate the Great Recession more than 15 years ago," he wrote. "We are seeing this same innovation and creativity as each department seeks ways to reduce expenses by 3% in next fiscal year's budget."
Henrico County is a member of the Virginia Energy Purchasing Governmental Association, or VEPGA.
According to the Henrico Citizen, the 25% rate increase applies to all member localities, including most Virginia municipalities north of Richmond.
Virginia has more data centers than any other state, with Northern Virginia serving as the nation's largest concentration of these facilities.
According to the Virginia Joint Legislative and Audit Review Commission, the region contains more than one-quarter of all U.S. data centers and about 13% of the world's total.
As Northern Virginia approaches capacity, more projects are being built in central parts of the state, including around Richmond.
Vithoulkas did not attribute the higher Electricity rates to data center growth.
A 2023 report from the Joint Legislative and Audit Review Commission, however, concluded that the rapid expansion of Virginia's data center industry has significantly increased electricity demand and is likely to raise costs for customers across the state, including those not served by data centers.