NextEra Energy wants to buy Dominion Power for $67 billion, or thereabouts. That’s not good for you, for me, for Louisa, or for Virginia.
This week Virginia’s Lt. Governor Ghazal Hashmi started a listening tour in Loudoun County to hear what voters have to say about the proposed acquisition or merger. According to reporting from one packed public hearing, the critiques and concerns were many. Only one person, it was reported, approved of the merger. NextEra is expanding and buying electric company utilities up the east coast, not just Virginia.
It is a juggernaut. While it boasts of being Florida’s largest public electric utility, it has its corporate fingers and tentacles everywhere: Data centers, power grids, transmission lines, battery storage, solar power, gas fired power plants to power data center campuses, nuclear plants. Last year It partnered with Google Cloud to “scale multiple gigawatts of power” for new data centers across the U.S.
With the acquisition of Dominion Power, NextEra claims it will be the “largest regulated electric utility business by market capitalization and one of the world’s largest energy infrastructure companies,” adding for emphasis, “with an unmatched operating platform benefiting customers.” Ha!
I think we know a monopolistic octopus when we see one.
They are, it seems, bad neighbors as well.
NextEra describes itself as “the largest electric power and energy infrastructure company in North America and is a leading provider of electricity to American homes and businesses. Headquartered in Juno Beach, Florida, NextEra Energy is a Fortune 200 company that owns Florida Power & Light Company, America’s largest electric utility, which provides reliable electricity to approximately 12 million people across Florida. NextEra Energy also owns one of the largest energy infrastructure development companies in the U.S., NextEra Energy Resources, LLC. NextEra Energy and its affiliated entities are meeting America’s growing energy needs with a diverse mix of energy sources, including natural gas, nuclear, renewable energy and battery storage.”
NextEra has been in federal court recently.
In April NextEra agreed to a $150 million settlement with investors who alleged “fraud and deceit.” I think the settlement is merely window dressing and housekeeping before it becomes an issue with Virginia’s regulatory body. The settlement, it appears is still under review, by a federal appeals court, before final approval.
Clean Virginia, an advocacy group that has filed motions with Virginia’s State Corporation Commission regarding the proposed merger, stated that the merger “would hand Virginia’s electric grid to a company with a troubling track record of raising bills in Florida, heavily interfering in state politics and prioritizing corporate profit over the public interest” (https://www.cleanvirginia.org/2026/07/15/mergerapplicationfiled/). This included ‘ghost candidates’ and surveillance of a journalist.
It has its own political arm: NextEra Political Action Committee. In fact, there was a Federal Election Commission (FEC) investigation in 2022 which alleged campaign finance law violations. In 2024 the FEC closed the investigation, citing it did not find illegal activity. Hmmmmm.
Additionally, according to online reporting, NextEra’s PAC has donated approximately $60 million to various politicians in various states. Our new governor received some of that largess. It was reported that Governor Abigail Spanberger’s inauguration committee received two donations from NextEra totaling $15k. While $15k seems like a small amount, it opens the door for larger donations. Like a free bag of dope. Spanberger, now that she is on the bandwagon to challenge the merger and apparently the first governor in Virginia history to “intervene” in the regulator process, should return the donation.
Campaign donations, public utilities, and politicians go together like a peanut butter and banana sandwich on white bread, and, are not a new combination to Virginia. A recent Virginia Mercury article reporting on the NextEra merger, “Public Utilities Shouldn’t be Funding the Campaigns of the People who Govern them,” journalist Ivy Main highlighted the perils of taking unlimited donations from public utilities. According to the article, Virginia’s House speaker Don Scott reportedly has received nearly $4million in donations from Dominion Energy over the years. Wow, $4 million (https://virginiamercury.com/2026/08/31/public-utilities-shouldnt-be-funding-the-campaigns-of-the-people-who-govern-them/#).
Overall, the merger would be a disaster in my opinion for Virginians already battling high electricity prices and a tsunami of data centers, Louisa County included. NextEra has a history of price spikes. In Florida they raised the rates 33 percent from 2021 to 2026 and has a poor history of customer service, unauthorized charges, doubling or tripling rates after the initial, introductory, contract expired.
Basically, the merger would create a monopoly with NextEra’s tentacles everywhere, from our pocketbooks to politicians’ pockets. Monopolies mean higher prices, poorer service, and more woe. Let’s not move on to that next era of monopolies.
Time to write your local representatives and Governor Spanberger. The final decision by regulators is January. Tell them “NO” to the merger.
