While Dominion and NextEra have taken steps to make their proposed merger sweeter for the public, experts in the field of energy law say it may not matter much. That’s because of the language of Virginia’s merger law.
In Virginia there are entirely different sets of laws for when companies merge, and even more specific ones when a publicly regulated utility wants to. The standard is known as a “no harm test.” It’s what the State Corporation Commission will use when considering the $67 billion merger.
In the state code, the standard reads: “that adequate service to the public at just and reasonable rates will not be impaired or jeopardized.”
Cale Jaffe is a UVA Law professor and teaches Virginia energy law.
“[If] it's going to impact or jeopardize fair rates for customers, the commission has the authority, I’d say the obligation, to look further down the road," Jaffe said in an interview Monday. "They can’t just look at a two-year timeframe.”
Jaffe was referencing the second offer provided by Dominion as short term benefits, including increased bill credits and the promise of a new headquarters in Richmond to sweeten the deal.
Former Delegate Greg Habeeb is a long-time energy attorney in Virginia. He’s repping Clean Virginia in the merger dispute. He pointed to the so-called “sweeteners” and said…
“A lot of stakeholders you’re hearing from are saying ‘we’d like to get this thing out of the merger. We’d like to get investment, we’d like to get jobs, we’d like to get green energy programs," Habeeb told Radio IQ. "All of those might be fantastic things, they’re just irrelevant to the standard that the commission has to apply in determining whether or not to approve the merger.”
Whether or not that standard will cause the merger to rise or fall is up to the SCC with a deadline in January.
