A $67 billion deal that would create the world’s largest retail electricity company is running into fierce resistance in Virginia. Florida-based NextEra Energy wants to buy Richmond-headquartered Dominion Energy, but the state’s governor, its attorney general and a growing number of residents say the merger offers Virginians too little and could push their power bills even higher.The fight comes as electricity prices climb across the US, driven partly by the power demand of AI data centres. Virginia is where that boom is most visible. Dominion, which has 3.6 million customers across three states, serves Northern Virginia’s Data Center Alley, the world’s largest cluster of such facilities. The State Corporation Commission (SCC), which must approve the deal, is set to rule in January, and needs two of its three commissioners on board.
Virginia wants a rate freeze, NextEra is saying no
Governor Abigail Spanberger, a Democrat, wants electricity rates frozen for six years and bill credits of $29 a month for four years for current Dominion customers. “My priority is affordability for Virginians,” she told reporters ahead of a public hearing last week, The New York Times reported.NextEra’s offer is much smaller: $10 a month in credits for four years, plus $100 million for bill assistance to lower-income households and workforce programmes. In a filing this week, chief executive John Ketchum rejected the freeze, saying it should be handled in routine rate-setting cases rather than the merger review.The companies have tried to narrow the gap. Earlier this month, they accepted 101 of 117 conditions proposed by the SCC staff and the state’s consumer counsel, including two independent directors on the Virginia utility’s board and up to $5 billion in spending with local businesses over five years. They still refused the freeze and a staff proposal for a three-year rate cap.Wall Street has noticed the standoff. The premium on NextEra’s all-stock offer has shrunk from 23% in May to under 2%.
Virginians are paying over 10% more for electricity than a year ago
US Energy Information Administration figures cited by the NYT show Virginians paid an average of $176 a month in August for 1,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity, up from $159 a year earlier. The national average rose from $176 to $182.That strain was on display outside the SCC hearing in Richmond, where dozens of protesters, several of them local pastors, held signs reading “Take Back Our Power.” The Rev. Kevin L. Jones of Ebenezer Baptist Church told the NYT that requests from parishioners for help with utility bills now add up to thousands of dollars.Critics have also questioned the SCC’s own neutrality. Its chair, Judge Kelsey A. Bagot, was a senior attorney at NextEra less than three years ago. She has declined to recuse herself, arguing that past work with a regulated company has never automatically required a commissioner to step aside.The deal does have backers. Virginia Chamber of Commerce chief Brad N. Hall told the commission the merger would bring more investment into the grid and help build the state’s workforce. Still, the SCC staff and the independent monitor for the regional grid have joined the governor and attorney general in opposing it.Even a yes in Richmond would not settle things. The deal also needs clearance from North Carolina, South Carolina and federal regulators. NextEra has tried to buy utilities in Hawaii, North Carolina and Texas before, and each bid fell apart. January will show whether Virginia joins that list.