Lt. Gov. Ghazala Hashmi is calling for an extension of the process for the State Corporation Commission’s review of Dominion Energy’s proposed merger with Florida-based NextEra Energy, arguing Virginia regulators need more time to examine a deal that would create the largest utility merger in U.S. history.
At this point, however, action from Gov. Abigail Spanberger appears to be the only immediate path to extending the review timeline, as she prepares budget amendments ahead of a legislative vote next week.
Spanberger’s office declined to comment for this story.
“I want to be quite blunt with you. I have been involved in over a dozen mergers since 1985. There is no way that a full hearing of the complexity of this transaction can occur in a six-month proceeding. That’s not possible.”
Scott Hempling
The proposed $67 billion merger is expected to be filed with the SCC in July, which would begin a statutory review timeline that currently allows regulators up to 60 days to evaluate the transaction, with an option to extend it 120 more days. Without a special session, legislators would be unable to enact new legislation to extend the review period.
In an op-ed published with the Richmond Times-Dispatch Thursday, Hashmi argued that six months is not enough time to review a merger of this size and urged Virginia to extend the process to one year.
“Six months is simply not enough time to evaluate a $67 billion merger that would reshape Virginia’s electric utility landscape, affect millions of families, and impact the thousands of Virginians employed by Dominion Energy,” Hashmi wrote.
Critics of the timeline say the law was written decades ago and does not account for the complexity of modern utility mergers.
Supporters of extending the review period argue that allowing the SCC more time would ensure regulators can fully examine potential impacts on customers, workers and the state’s energy system before making a decision.
Scott Hempling, a public utilities attorney who has advised state regulators, previously told the Energy Commission of Virginia that the current timeline would not allow for a sufficient review of a merger of this magnitude.
“I want to be quite blunt with you. I have been involved in over a dozen mergers since 1985. There is no way that a full hearing of the complexity of this transaction can occur in a six-month proceeding. That’s not possible,” Hempling said during a meeting for the Energy Commission of Virginia earlier this month.
“Yes, the SCC will complete the transactions review in the six-month period if that’s what it has to do,” he continued. “That’s the way commissions work. But the question is at what level of oversimplification.”
“Given what is at stake, Virginians deserve a review process with the time and the legal standard to actually protect their interests.”
Brennan Gilmore
The push for a longer review has also received support from a coalition of 36 advocacy organizations representing a range of interests, including consumer, environmental and energy groups. The coalition sent a letter urging the governor and General Assembly leaders to give regulators more time to evaluate the merger.
“Given what is at stake, Virginians deserve a review process with the time and the legal standard to actually protect their interests,” said Brennan Gilmore, executive director of Clean Virginia, one of the groups included in the letter. “The General Assembly wrote these rules, and it’s up to the General Assembly and Governor to update them before this process moves any further.”
The timing of the review has become a central issue for opponents of the merger. If Dominion and NextEra file their application in July, the SCC’s 180-day review period would conclude before the General Assembly returns for its next legislative session in January, limiting lawmakers’ ability to make changes to state law during the review process.
Without a special session, lawmakers will not have another opportunity to change the law before the SCC review would be completed.
Spanberger is expected to send her final budget amendment proposals to legislators in the next few days, as the House and Senate plan to meet on Monday to finalize the details before state funding expires Tuesday night.
The House included language to extend the review process in a budget proposal earlier this month, but it was removed before the final legislation was released.
“We talked to the SCC; I spoke to them myself, and they said they did not think they needed additional time,” said Speaker of the House Don Scott, D-Portsmouth, when asked by VPM News about the language being removed from the budget agreement.
While Spanberger expressed support for the House budget proposal that included this provision when it was announced, her office declined to comment Friday on whether she is considering sending back an amendment with the extension.
Even if Spanberger does include an extension in her amendment proposals, the legislature would have to approve it.
Hashmi said extending the review period would not be an obstacle to the merger but rather a way to ensure regulators have enough time to protect Virginia customers.
“Virginia families deserve better than a process designed for speed rather than scrutiny,” Hashmi wrote.
Dominion Energy declined to comment for this story.
Attorney General Jay Jones is tasked with representing Virginia’s ratepayers throughout the merger process.
“The proposed merger between NextEra and Dominion Energy could result in the creation of one of the largest regulated electric utilities in the world,” a spokesperson for Jones said. “As a result, the Office of the Attorney General intends to fulfill its statutory responsibility to thoroughly evaluate the filings in this case and aggressively advocate on behalf of ratepayers at the State Corporation Commission to ensure that as this merger is considered, already overburdened ratepayers remain at the forefront of the decision making process.”