NextEra Energy and Dominion Energy filed paperwork on Wednesday seeking regulatory approval to initiate what would become the largest utility company merger in the United States.
The companies submitted applications to the Virginia State Corporation Commission, as well as regulators in North Carolina, South Carolina and at the federal level. If approved, the combined company would serve about 10 million customer accounts across four states. The companies say the transaction remains on track to close in the second half of 2027.
Gov. Abigail Spanberger has not said outright whether she supports or opposes the merger, but she said her priority will be to examine how it affects affordability in Virginia.
“I have a binder of documents that I’ll be going through,” Spanberger said Thursday during a conversation with the press.
The companies have said that customers in Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina would receive $2.25 billion in shareholder-funded bill credits during the first two years after the merger closes and that customers would not bear any costs associated with the transaction.
Spanberger also expressed concern about how the merger might impact the nearly 10,000 Dominion employees across the commonwealth.
“I do want to make sure I have an understanding of what the impacts of this merger might be on employment, both of course at the headquarters, but in Dominion facilities or line workers across the rest of the state,” she said.
The merger filing states Dominion employees would receive 18 months of job protection following the closing of the transaction, while non-union employees would receive two years of current compensation and comparable benefits.
Dominion also has said its utilities would remain locally led and separately regulated, with dual corporate headquarters in Richmond and Juno Beach, Florida.
And Spanberger said she wants to see what impact this would have on Virginia and on the path to greater use of renewable energy.
“As we are continuing to expand our generation, that we are doing so in a way that is sustainable, affordable, and we’re leveraging renewable energy as much and as frequently as possible,” Spanberger said.
The review process
Lt. Gov. Ghazala Hashmi recently called for a change to the SCC’s review process, which is currently limited to 6 months.
“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 in an op-ed with the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
Legislative leaders also expressed concerns over the limited time.
“I am concerned about it,” said Sen. Majority Leader Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax, during a conversation with reporters last month.
Surovell pointed to testimony from Scott Hempling, a public utilities attorney who has advised state regulators. He 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 in June.
“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.”
Surovell also said he does not believe there is a mechanism for lawmakers to change the review process, as they are not scheduled to return for the next legislative session until January.
However, legislators did not adjourn from the special session after completing the budget on June 29. Instead, both chambers went into recess, which could leave the door open for them to return to Richmond.
In October of 2025, the General Assembly was still in an active special session that had begun earlier that year to address federal budget cuts. Legislators convened in October and voted to change the scope of the special session to include redistricting.
Spanberger could also call the legislature to a special session to extend the review process, but she stopped short on Thursday of indicating that she would summon lawmakers to Richmond.
“I think the SCC should take the time the SCC needs,” Spanberger said Thursday.
“I do think for a deal of this size, I don’t necessarily want to say X amount of time is the appropriate time for them to consider. But I do think for a deal of this size, if they were to respond back in two weeks, perhaps that was faster than it should have been.”
Clean Virginia, a group that is opposed to the merger, is a sponsor of this newsletter. Virginia Scope does not accept editorial input from any sponsors.