By Kennedy Maize
The end game may be emerging in the enormous and controversial proposed merger of Virginia-based Dominion Energy and Florida’s Next Era Energy. Announced in mid-May, the companies bill it as creating “the world’s largest regulated electric utility business.” The deal is valued at some $67 billion.
The combined company would feature some 110 GW of electric generating capacity reaching some 10 million customers in Florida, Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. The merger would also create the third-largest U.S. energy company, behind oil giants ExxonMobil and Chevron.
The merger also faces a regulatory path that includes multiple state reviews, federal approval from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, possible action by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and aroused citizen opposition, particularly in Virginia. The companies said in announcing the deal that they hoped it would close in January. The most significant hurdle so far is approval by the Virginia State Corporation Commission, which has been holding hearings across the Old Dominion, including Oct. 7 in Newport News and Oct. 9 in Fairfax County. A final public hearing is set for Nov. 17 in Richmond. 
The companies face important political pushback in Virginia. Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger and Lt. Gov. Ghazala Hashmi have formally intervened and Spanberger has said she is “deeply skeptical” of the massive deal. Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones has asked the SCC for more time to review the merger.
Hashmi has been particularly aggressive in opposing the merger. “After engaging in discussions with experts and industry officials, after reading analyses of the proposed merger, and after listening to the perspectives of hundreds of Virginians … I’ve concluded that the proposed takeover of Dominion Energy with NextEra is not in the best interest of Virginians,” she said at a Richmond news conference. She had finished a five-city tour of the state gathering citizen input on the merger.
The Virginia Mercury reported, “The clearest feedback, Hashmi said, was that citizens are worried the deal could make their utility bills skyrocket, citing increased energy costs in recent years.” Hashmi released a report detailing her problems with the merger.
Hashmi may have personal political interests in opposing the merger. Virginia’s unique 1902 Constitution limits governors to one four-year term, a provision that remains state law (it also disenfranchised African Americans, which stood until federal voting rights laws in the 1960s). She may be looking ahead to 2029 (the 1902 Constitution also timed statewide elections to occur in federal off-numbered years).
The Fairfax hearing generated considerable heat, although not much light. Protestors chanted and held signs reading “Next Error,” while a Fairfax County supervisor complained that “it’s already hard to get Dominion to respond to issues now, when they are headquarted in Richmond,” let alone if the company is bigger and spread out over a much larger territory.
The SCC has targeted Jan. 11, 2027 for a decision on the merger, although that date may be overcome by events.
There is also a possibility of federal intervention in the merger. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has jurisdiction over utility mergers with a value greater than $10 million. On Sept. 30, a dozen U.S. House and Senate Democrats, led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Rep. Suhas Subramanyam of Virginia called on FERC calling to review the merger. They wrote, “We urge you to closely scrutinize this merger and block it if the Commission determines it would increase market concentration or have an adverse effect on costs for consumers — or if the acquisition is otherwise not in the public interest.”
A new wrinkle on the impact of the merger came last week (Oct. 8) in a report from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, “Dominion-Next Era merger plan may slow clean energy transition.” Dominion has long touted its environmental and clean energy credentials, particularly its major offshore wind project.
Analyst Dennis Wamsted wrote, “Despite the success of the utility’s current offshore wind projects and promises of consumer fuel cost saving related to the renewable technology, the merger agreement fails to mention offshore wind at all.”
Wamsted noted, “The absence of any mention of offshore wind is a glaring omission given Dominion’s own estimate that Virginia consumers will save $5 billion in fuel costs over the first 10 years of operation of the 2,600-megawatt (MW) Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) project, now more than 80% complete, and the strong performance of the utility’s nearby 12-MW pilot project over the past six years. Despite these performance numbers and cost savings estimates, NextEra has been dismissive of offshore wind.”
He pointed to the performance of Dominion’s wind capacity compared to the utility’s legacy large coal-fired generating plants. 
The IEEFA analysis concludes, “Virginia regulators, politicians, and consumers need to ensure the proposed merger does not lock the state into an expensive fossil fuel-fired future—particularly given the proven performance and cost-effectiveness of renewable alternatives paired with battery storage.”
The Quad Report, covering energy policy and politics