Dominion-NextEra merger hearing focused on rates, data centers

Dive Brief:

• Electricity affordability, data center development and antitrust issues were top concerns voiced about the proposed NextEra Energy-Dominion Energy merger at a hearing held by the Virginia State Corporation Commission at the Fairfax County Government Center on Friday.
• Most of the state and local officials who spoke at the hearing asked for the merger to be denied or allowed contingent on guarantees like Virginia Clean Economy Act compliance, data centers paying for infrastructure costs, and prohibitions on regulated utilities making campaign contributions. Local business and union leaders spoke in favor of the deal, citing job creation and the need to meet electricity demand.
• Virginia Del. Irene Shin, D, who represents parts of Fairfax County, cited the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s Sept. 23 letter to Dominion and NextEra calling their merger application incomplete and requesting more information on issues like rate impacts. “I'm surprised that the SCC has moved forward without doing the same,” she said, urging the commission to reject the merger.

Dive Insight:

The meeting was the second of two local in-person hearings in Virginia, with the first held Oct. 7 in Newport News. The SCC will also hear public testimony through telephonic hearings on Nov. 5, 9 and 10; the evidentiary hearing in the case begins Nov. 17. Under the case’s current 180-day review clock, the SCC is set to make a decision in the case in January. 

Virginia’s lieutenant governor, Ghazala Hashmi, D, said in a Tuesday report that she has concluded the merger is “not in the best interest of Virginians” following a five-city listening tour across the state. Gov. Abigail Spanberger, D, has not taken a definitive position on the deal but has called herself “skeptical” about it. In August, Spanberger filed with the SCC to be a respondent in the case.

At the Oct. 9 hearing, Alexandria City Councilman John Taylor Chapman said, “Ultimately, our concern is that the creation of the nation's largest electric utility will put Alexandrians at risk of runaway utility costs with limited recourse. Utility costs have risen dramatically over the last several years.”

Virginia Sen. Jennifer Boysko, D, whose statement was read by her chief of staff, Karen Harrison, did not speak for or against the merger but said she was concerned about ratepayer burden and “the lack of clear language in the merger proposal for ratepayer protection.” Boysko’s statement asked for a “clear commitment” to the VCEA.

U.S. Rep. Eugene Vindman, D, said in his comments that he believes the proposed merger is “a bad deal for Virginians,” citing rising energy bills along with Dominion’s existing status as a monopoly utility. “This commission has a responsibility to protect Virginia ratepayers,” he said. 

“NextEra sees enormous profits to be made in Virginia, particularly with the explosion of data centers,” Vindman said. “That is crystal clear. Data centers need to pay their fair share. Virginia families should not have to subsidize corporate expansion through higher utility bills.”

Don Slaiman, the political coordinator for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 26, which represents electrical workers in the D.C., area, said he had not planned to speak “because our unions are still negotiating with NextEra and Dominion.” Slaiman didn’t give his opinion on the merger, but said he felt the need to respond to the negative comments previous speakers had made about data center development. 

“If we did not have data centers to store this data and we reserved it to private service, we'd be using almost half of our grid instead of the 6% or 7% we're using now,” Slaiman said. “So unless you're ready to curb your own digital footprint, I would not admonish this industry so much, which has provided fantastic jobs for my membership.”

State Del. Kirk McPike, D, whose district covers part of the city of Alexandria, said he is opposed to the merger unless there are “ironclad guarantees that costs will not increase for Virginia taxpayers, that large energy users like data centers will pay for their own infrastructure and energy usage,” that VCEA commitments are met in a timely manner “and that you'll never see the sort of corruption scandal that occurred in Florida occur here in Virginia.”

NextEra agreed in June to pay a $150 million settlement over allegations that it lied about its involvement in political interference schemes in Florida.

Shin’s comments also cited concerns about Florida Power & Light’s “Robo memo” which is filed in the SCC’s case docket but which the public has yet to review. Clean Virginia noted in a Sept. 2 motion to compel that the memo is titled, “Florida Power & Light Officers’ Potentially Unlawful Conduct Through Third-Party Consultants and Vendors.” SCC Chief Hearing Examiner Mathias Roussy ruled Oct. 2 in favor of the release of the Robo memo. 

Shin also said she has concerns about whether NextEra will commit to meeting Virginia’s clean energy goals if it acquires Dominion, saying previous responses from company representatives on the topic “[sounded] like a company laying the groundwork to walk away from the VCEA.” 

“When Dominion was asked about the VCEA, its executive vice president told the commission, ‘I am still your throat to choke,’ and that was a shocking thing for me to hear as a legislator,” she said.

State Del. John McAuliff, D, who represents the 30th District in western Loudoun County and campaigned against data center development in 2025, expressed concerns about NextEra and Dominion's history of political contributions.

“If we move forward with anything like this, we have to prohibit regulated utilities from making campaign contributions to the elected officials who oversee them,” McAuliff said.