Virginia Attorney General Seeks to Reset Dominion-NextEra Merger Clock

Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones has requested that the State Corporation Commission reset the 180-day review period for the proposed $67 billion merger between Dominion Energy and NextEra Energy. Jones argues that supplemental filings made on September 14—which include doubling residential bill credits, extending job protections to five years, and promising a new office tower in downtown Richmond—constitute an amendment to the original proposal rather than a simple supplement. He contends that intervenors lack sufficient time to analyze these expansions or determine if costs will be passed to ratepayers.

If granted, the statutory clock would reset to September 14, pushing the evidentiary hearing from November 17, 2026, to approximately January 19, 2027. NextEra CEO John Ketchum stated that these changes were intended to make the deal more attractive following stakeholder hearings. However, the merger faces opposition from Lieutenant Governor Ghazala Hashmi and Speaker Don Scott, while Governor Abigail Spanberger has raised concerns regarding potential power bill increases and slowed greenhouse gas emission reductions.

Simultaneously, the State Corporation Commission is holding a public hearing on September 22 to resolve a dispute filed by the advocacy group Clean Virginia. The group's motion to compel information seeks specific details on merger condition enforcement and costs from previous acquisition attempts. While NextEra and Dominion claim to have answered over 1,600 discovery questions, Clean Virginia maintains that critical facts remain unresolved.