August 1 (Reuters) - Dominion Energy ( D ) on Friday

beat second-quarter revenue and profit estimates, helped by

rising power demand in Virginia and South Carolina.

Electricity demand has been surging in the U.S. as

technology companies build power-guzzling data centers to run

their artificial intelligence models.

Power consumption in the country is expected to reach record

highs in 2025 and 2026, the U.S. Energy Information

Administration said earlier this year, driven by the data

centers, cryptocurrency applications and electrification of

homes and cars.

Adjusted operating earnings from Dominion's Virginia segment

rose 13.2% to $549 million in the second quarter, and that from

the South Carolina segment rose about 58% to $109 million.

Dominion's Virginia utility serves the largest data center

cluster in the world, with a higher capacity than the next four

largest clusters combined, the company said.

Quarterly revenue was $3.81 billion, up from $3.49 billion a

year ago, and beating analysts' estimate of $3.65 billion,

according to data compiled by LSEG.

However, company's interest expenses rose about 7.5% to $505

million in the second quarter.

Dominion Energy ( D ) reaffirmed its full-year 2025 operating

profit forecast of between $3.28 per share and $3.52 per share;

analysts had estimated a profit of $3.39 per share.

The utility's operating earnings on an adjusted basis was 75

cents per share for the three months ended June 30, compared

with analysts' average estimate of 68 cents per share.