Five Virginia Members of Congress Demand State Regulators Deny Dominion-NextEra Merger

Five sitting members of Congress representing most of Northern and Eastern Virginia wrote to the State Corporation Commission that, concerning the proposed $67 billion Dominion Energy and NextEra Energy merger, “we do not believe the merger is in the public interest.”

Democratic U.S. Reps. Don Beyer, Jennifer McClellan, Suhas Subramanyam, Eugene Vindman, and James Walkinshaw penned the letter as part of public testimony in the case on Thursday.

Chief among their concerns are Virginia’s prolific data center industry and the energy infrastructure still needed to support it. The representatives said they fear NextEra’s model of business would raise utility bills through the pass-down costs of building these projects.

“As NextEra’s growth strategy is dependent on maximizing capital deployment, its potential acquisition of Dominion risks creating a sustained, multi-decade upward pressure on ratepayers’ bills,” the lawmakers wrote.

The proposal to combine Virginia’s largest public utility and the Florida-based power and energy resource company would create the largest regulated utility in the world.

Both companies’ leaders have touted the merger as beneficial for increased buying power to purchase energy infrastructure in bulk, which could bring down costs.

But the congressional delegation said that too much of the cost to build out the grid in Virginia to support the skyrocketing energy demands, largely driven by data centers, is still subsidized by residential customers.

Dominion recently developed a new GS5 rate class that would assign slightly more of those costs to large load customers, namely data centers. But the lawmakers said that doesn’t go far enough to protect all ratepayers.

Members wrote in the letter that despite the “sweeteners” in the deal — including four-year bill credits of $10 a month, job protection for five years for current Dominion employees, and an offer to build an office building in downtown Richmond — once they expire, customers and workers would be at risk.

“Virginia-based Dominion workforce would be at risk of significant job cuts, Virginia households and small businesses would be locked into paying those multi-decade elevated rates,” the delegation wrote.

The merger would provide “no base rate increase moratorium, no cap on escalating rate adjustment clauses (riders), and no binding mechanism to track and pass fuel or operational synergies to captive customers,” they noted.

NextEra’s past alleged political dealings and investments in President Donald Trump’s administration also raised alarms for the federal lawmakers.

Last month, the SCC allowed a document dubbed the “Robo Memo” to be entered into evidence for the case. The memo details an internal investigation into NextEra Energy’s failed attempt to acquire Jacksonville, Florida’s public utility. The representatives shared that they believe the memo should be shared with the commission and intervenors in the case.

NextEra is also reported to have donated $4 million to Trump’s construction of a ballroom in the East Wing of the White House. Meanwhile, Trump has reversed course on renewable energy initiatives such as solar and offshore wind programs and investments.

Additionally, NextEra paid a $150 million settlement to resolve a dispute over whether the company lied about its involvement in political interference schemes in Florida.

“Engaging in that advocacy, including through means designed to obscure its involvement, puts NextEra in direct conflict with Virginia’s statutory mandates under the Virginia Clean Economy Act,” the delegation said in the letter.

The letter will be entered into the official record of the case and be considered along with the thousands of written public testimony that has already been submitted.

The evidentiary portion of the case, where attorneys begin providing evidence and cross-examining witnesses, is set to begin on Nov. 17. The SCC must make a determination on the merger by Jan. 11.

By Shannon Heckt, Virginia Mercury

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