Governor Abigail Spanberger will request to be a party to the Virginia State Corporation Commission review of Dominion Energy Inc.'s proposed $67.4 billion acquisition by NextEra Energy Inc.
"As a Virginian, I am deeply skeptical about whether selling our primary, state-regulated utility to an out-of-state company is good for the commonwealth," Spanberger wrote in an Aug. 6 editorial for The Washington Post. "I have serious questions about what this deal would mean for us."
In joining the proceeding, the Democratic governor said her three "non-negotiable" priorities will be "delivering more affordable energy bills," protecting the Virginia utility's workforce and ensuring the merger does not slow progress toward producing "affordable, reliable, local and clean power."
"I know this action is unprecedented by a Virginia governor — but so, too, is the size of this proposed merger," Spanberger added.
By becoming an intervenor in the proceeding, Spanberger's administration will "have the legal right to engage, bring concerns forward, request detailed information about the proposed merger, and make clear that Virginians expect to see long-term, tangible benefits of any potential deal," the governor wrote.
In their joint petition filed with the SCC (Case No. PUR-2016-00112), executives for NextEra and Dominion emphasized that their commitment to provide nearly $2 billion in bill credits to the state's customers should help alleviate concerns about potential impacts to ratepayers.
Dominion has headquarters in Richmond, Virginia. Under the state's utility code, the merging entities must demonstrate that "adequate service to the public at just and reasonable rates will not be impaired or jeopardized" by the transaction.
Mark Christie, former chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, noted that Virginia did not introduce a more rigorous approval process for the merger when it had an opportunity to do so.
"The Virginia legislature and Gov. Abigail Spanberger could have changed both the statutory standard (to make it tougher) and review time clock (to make it longer) in their budget bill last month, when they were aware of the proposed merger, but they did not," Christie wrote in a July 16 post on LinkedIn. Christie is also a former member of the Virginia SCC.
The SCC has 60 days to rule on a proposed merger once the application has been filed, but the commission may extend that period by up to 120 additional days. The application is "deemed approved" if the SCC does not act within the 60-day window or the extended period ordered by the commission.
"The merger commitments ensure that this business combination will 'do no harm' to the company's customers or impair the provision of adequate electric service at just and reasonable rates," the companies wrote in their joint petition. Dominion's regulated utilities are Dominion Energy North Carolina, Dominion Energy South Carolina Inc. and Virginia Electric and Power Co., which operates as Dominion Energy Virginia — as well as
NextEra and Dominion have also filed a Federal Power Act Section 203 application with FERC, requesting that the agency approve the deal no later than Jan. 11, 2027.
Maine Senator Angus King (Independent) asked FERC in June to "at minimum require structural rather than behavioral remedies" because one-time reimbursements do not fully address competition issues.
"Customer credits in the regulated footprint cannot remedy market manipulation risk in the merchant footprint, and they should not be treated as a mitigation offset for structural competition concerns," King wrote.
