Lawmakers weigh Dominion-NextEra deal

Dominion and NextEra announced the proposed merger in May. The companies said the transaction is expected to close within 12 to 18 months pending state and federal approvals. Dominion Energy Virginia President Ed Baine told lawmakers the company expects to file its application with the State Corporation Commission during the third quarter.

Commission Chairman Scott Surovell noted Virginia’s review timeline could move faster than the legislative calendar.

Under Virginia’s Utility Transfers Act, the State Corporation Commission has 60 days to review a completed application, with the option to extend the review by up to 120 additional days for a total of 180 days.

“I think any kind of review process is likely to be over before the General Assembly session even begins,” Surovell said.

Commission members debated whether lawmakers should begin examining the merger now or leave the issue to state and federal regulators.

Del. Destiny LeVere Bolling said Virginia already has regulatory structures in place and questioned whether studying the merger before a formal filing was premature. Sen. Creigh Deeds said the merger was too significant for lawmakers to ignore, while Del. Irene Shin said the commission should examine potential impacts on ratepayers.

Baine told lawmakers the merger would provide about $2.25 billion in customer bill credits across Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina, including roughly $1.8 billion for Virginia customers over two years.

Baine also said merger-related costs would not be recovered from customers and said Dominion intends to continue complying with requirements under the Virginia Clean Economy Act.

Outside experts and advocacy groups raised concerns about whether Virginia’s current review standards are sufficient for a transaction of that scale.

Utility consultant Scott Hempling, speaking generally about utility mergers and not specifically endorsing or opposing the Dominion proposal, told lawmakers that review standards centered on preventing harm rather than maximizing public benefit can favor shareholders over ratepayers.

“If you have a standard that says merge, just don’t hurt me, well, the planners of the transaction have a standard that says let’s get the most that we can,” Hempling said.

Clean Virginia Executive Director Brennan Gilmore called for stronger scrutiny of the merger and argued the SCC review window is too short for a transaction involving a large multistate utility system.

Public comments also included concerns about electric rates, regulatory oversight and NextEra subsidiary Florida Power & Light’s history of rate increases in Florida.