Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones’ office is asking the State Corporation Commission to effectively restart the review timeline for Dominion Energy and NextEra Energy’s proposed merger, arguing that the companies have significantly expanded their proposal with new commitments.
The Office of the Attorney General’s Division of Consumer Counsel filed the request Friday, saying new material submitted by Dominion and NextEra should be treated as an amendment to their merger application rather than simply supplemental testimony.
That distinction could reset the clock on the SCC’s review of the proposed acquisition.
Dominion and NextEra filed the additional testimony Sept. 14, roughly two months after the companies initially filed their application with the SCC. The commission had extended the statutory review period to the maximum allowed by law of 180 days.
The testimonies filed are from Robert Blue, who is the chair, president and CEO of Dominion Energy, John Ketchum, who is the president and CEO of NextEra, and Edward Baine, the president of Dominion Energy-Virginia.
Dominion and NextEra have described the filing as limited supplemental testimony involving additional voluntary merger commitments and an alternative proposal for allocating bill credits. The companies argue the new material does not affect the completeness of their original petition and that other parties have sufficient time to review it before their Oct. 19 testimony deadline.
Dominion and NextEra announced last week that they would double the previously proposed residential bill credits from two years to four years, increase Dominion’s EnergyShare assistance program by $100 million through 2038 and maintain current Virginia employee headcount levels for five years.
The new package also includes 1,000 new direct jobs in Virginia, a $100 million workforce development fund, up to $1 billion annually for five years through a Virginia supplier program and plans for a new NextEra Energy office tower in downtown Richmond.
The attorney general’s office argues that the new testimony amounts to a substantially different proposal that requires additional time for other parties to review and investigate.
“The Joint Petitioners have put a different deal on the table,” the attorney general’s office filing states.
The attorney general’s office has already begun sending discovery requests to Dominion and NextEra seeking additional information about the new commitments.
The office argues that allowing the new testimony without changing the procedural schedule would leave intervenors insufficient time to investigate the changes before they must submit their own testimony.
Multiple localities have filed to intervene in the merger, as well as Gov. Abigail Spanberger.
The SCC currently has an evidentiary hearing scheduled to begin Nov. 17. The attorney general’s office is asking the commission to move the hearing to January and establish new deadlines throughout the case.
Under the proposal, the new filing date for purposes of the statutory deadline would be Sept. 14 — the date Dominion and NextEra submitted their supplemental testimony — essentially restarting the 180-day deadline.
The request does not ask the SCC to reject the proposed acquisition. Instead, it seeks additional time for the commission and other parties to evaluate the expanded proposal before the commission decides.
The SCC will ultimately decide whether the additional testimony constitutes an amendment requiring a new timeline.
Dominion Energy and Clean Virginia are sponsors of Virginia Scope; however, they have no editorial input