Updated 9 p.m. on Oct. 19, 2026
Staff at the Virginia State Corporation Commission have recommended against the proposed $67 billion merger between Dominion Energy and Florida-based NextEra Energy — unless both companies commit to dozens of binding conditions first.
The possible deal, which impacts Dominion’s business in Virginia and the Carolinas and requires state and federal government oversight, would create the largest electric utility in the United States. In Virginia, a three-person panel of commissioners will evaluate all testimony in the merger case.
Commission staff are responsible for reviewing all of the facts and providing their own, independent recommendations to the three presiding commissioners. Staff members do not hold decision-making authority. Other respondents, including Gov. Abigail Spanberger and Clean Virginia, have filed thousands of pages of testimony.
Carol Myers, of the Commission’s Division of Utility Accounting and Finance, wrote in the 201-page testimony that the Dominion–NextEra proposal fails to satisfy the Utility Transfers Act.
That state law governing the merger has a simple enough hook: The utilities must prove that “adequate service to the public at just and reasonable rates will not be impaired or jeopardized.” In other words, the combined company must continue to provide reliable electricity without charging ballooning, unjustified prices.
Myers wrote that the joint petition, as filed, fails to prove that this merger meets the standard, because “the proposed Merger would expose [Dominion Energy Virginia] to the additional financial and business risks of NextEra’s unregulated, competitive businesses.”
She also wrote that the commitments put forward by the companies — which include time-limited job protections and customer bill credits, the creation of 600 new jobs in Virginia and promises to build a new office tower and maintain Dominion’s current leadership — don’t do enough to ensure that adequate utility service would be maintained after the merger.
The list of 57 conditions presented by Myers includes 25 that were included in the companies’ proposals. Collectively, they have committed to holding ratepayers harmless for merger costs, contributing $100 million to energy workforce development programs, and maintaining Dominion Energy Virginia as a separate legal entity — all of which staff also included in their list of conditions.
Staff also included the companies’ second bill credit proposal, which sees residential customers using 1,000 kilowatt hours in a month receiving $10. That would be applied monthly for four years — accomplished in part by refusing bill credits to data centers. However, testimony was clear that SCC staff don’t see this as a “persuasive reason to approve the Merger,” only recommending its use because it helps ensure data centers “pay their fair share.”
But Myers wrote that the deal should require certain “ring-fencing” measures to protect Dominion’s finances in the case that NextEra faces bankruptcy. That involves setting up a “bankruptcy-remote special purpose entity” — a holding company which would directly own Dominion Energy Virginia, insulating its assets.
Staff asked the utilities if they had considered such an entity, to which they replied it was unnecessary and would prevent Dominion from improving its credit. That’s a key part of the pitch — improving Dominion’s credit rating results in lower borrowing costs for big investments, which are paid for by ratepayers over the long term. Dominion will need to make immense transmission and generation investments to serve data center demand in Northern Virginia.
Staff argued the expected benefits to Dominion’s credit rating are outweighed by the risk that NextEra’s diverse business portfolio would bring. Similar ring-fencing measures were credited in part with killing a proposed NextEra acquisition of Texas utility Oncor in 2017.
They also said the commission should require Dominion Energy Virginia to expand its post-merger board of directors by four people who would be unaffiliated with NextEra.
And staff said commissioners should put in writing that NextEra Energy Transmission, a NextEra subsidiary, will not own future transmission projects in Dominion’s Virginia service territory.
They also recommended extending some workforce protection requirements to 10 years post-merger.
Spanberger administration weighs in
Gov. Abigail Spanberger and Chief Energy Officer Josephus Allmond also came out against the merger terms, as currently outlined, in testimony filed Monday.
Through testimony by a policy consultant, Spanberger and Allmond outlined must-haves for the deal, saying the SCC should reject the merger unless 10 specific commitments were “substantially addressed or alternative solutions are identified” on ratepayer protections and clean-energy commitments.
“With the commitments made in the original filing and supplemental testimony, Dominion and NextEra have not yet satisfied the legal standard that would allow the Commission to approve this transaction,” said Allmond in a press release Monday.“This testimony lays out the bold actions that will be required in this transformative moment to ensure just and reasonable rates for Virginia customers resulting from the proposed merger.”
Chief among these was a $29 monthly rebate for four years and a residential rate freeze for six years (the average monthly bill in 2025 was about $150 for a Virginia household). They also said costs should be shifted from residential power to other ratepayer classes, claiming the change would reduce residents’ costs by 25%.
Allmond and Spanberger also recommended that Dominion’s financing be structured differently, reducing the company’s rate of return on equity — in other words, the percentage of its investments that shareholders can earn a profit on.
Spanberger and Allmond also said a deal should form a “Zero-Carbon Energy Generation Company” that is separated financially from the new mega-utility, with a Virginia headquarters. Critics of the merger have said that Virginia ratepayers would be exposed to risks from NextEra’s investment in other states, and Richmond,where Dominion is headquartered, voted to intervene in the case.
Under the administration’s demands, the Virginia General Assembly would also need to take action to create a state energy efficiency utility and eliminate Virginia’s cap on rooftop solar.
All of these policies would need to be backed up by “Mandatory, Comprehensive Enforceability provisions,” said Spanberger and Allmond.
What’s left in the process?
In a statement, Dominion and NextEra reiterated their pitch that the merger presents a “generational investment.”
“As expected in a proceeding of this size and significance, today’s testimony reflects a wide range of viewpoints and interests. We are reviewing the filings and will address the issues raised through the Commission’s established process,” the statement read.
That process will include rebuttal testimony and an evidentiary hearing beginning Nov. 17. Parties will file post-hearing briefs, and additional hearings may be scheduled as needed.
Written public comments can be submitted until Nov. 12, and telephonic public hearings will be held Nov. 5, 9 and 10. An in-person public hearing will also be held on Nov. 5 at the SCC’s courtroom in Richmond, 1300 E. Main St.
Commissioners must make a decision by Jan. 11, 2027, due to a provision in state law limiting deliberations to six months.
Reporter Jahd Khalil contributed to this article.
Disclosure: Dominion Energy and Clean Virginia are VPM sponsors.
Copyright 2026 VPM