The US’s largest utility megadeal is running into fierce opposition, as concerns over electricity affordability and anti-monopoly sentiment mount before November’s midterm elections.
Senior Virginia officials are sceptical that a $67bn tie-up between NextEra, the largest utility in the US, and Dominion, the power company at the heart of Virginia’s data centre alley, will benefit ratepayers as energy bills rise rapidly — and are concerned about the political influence such a behemoth utility company could wield.
Independent judges at Virginia’s utility regulator will ultimately decide the deal. Industry experts say the growing political backlash raises the bar for approval — making it harder for the panel to wave through the transaction without significant concessions.
“We’re seeing a lot of pushback on these kinds of deals all over the US,” said Rob Rains, director of policy sector research at Washington Analysis. “That, plus the angst in Virginia over data centres, could be a potent combination.”
Governor Abigail Spanberger said she is “deeply sceptical” of the proposal and has intervened in the takover process, giving her the right to interrogate the companies and push for measures to keep bills down and protect jobs.
Her office was blindsided by news of the deal, according to people familiar with the matter. But when the news of the tie-up broke, her administration realised intervening could give it leverage to seek concessions from Dominion and NextEra, including measures to keep bills down, push clean energy development and change how utility investment is financed — shifting the capital structure towards debt and away from equity, which typically carries a higher cost that can be pushed down to customers.
The governor’s office has considered measures to rein in Dominion’s political spending, said a person with knowledge of the matter. The company is one of the largest donors in the state, which has some of the loosest campaign finance laws in the US.
Its spending has accelerated since the tie-up was announced, contributing $3.67mn in campaign donations between May 26 and August 31, more than triple the amount in the two previous reporting periods.
A spokesperson for the governor’s office said Spanberger’s formal filing sets out three priorities: lower energy bills, job protection and accelerating “affordable, reliable, local and clean power”.
Other high-level Virginia state officials, such as attorney-general Jay Jones, lieutenant-governor Ghazala Hashmi, at least eight lawmakers and Congress member Eugene Vindman, have opposed the deal.
Scrutiny has extended beyond Virginia: a group of congressional Democrats led by Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren has warned federal regulators the deal could “squash competition and raise prices”.
“I don’t think merging two huge utilities into a bigger one is the answer to our problems,” said state senator Schuyler VanValkenburg. “We already struggle as a state to properly regulate Dominion; are they going to be more or less responsive to Virginians when they’re based in Florida?”
The fight over Dominion’s future comes amid a surge in utility mergers and acquisitions. US utility deals hit a record $205bn in the first half of 2026, according to Deloitte.
NextEra has long sought to combine with a major utility, with attempts to buy Hawaiian Electric and Duke Energy failing. Taking over Dominion would open to NextEra a once-in-a-generation opportunity: providing power to companies such as Microsoft, Amazon, Google and Meta in the heart of “data centre alley”.
But the gambit is being proposed as residents revolt over data centres being built in their backyards and regulators grow more assertive over utility deals. In New Mexico, Blackstone’s attempt to buy TXNM Energy has been delayed after regulatory pressure.
NextEra and Dominion have stepped up their efforts to woo the power players who could influence the outcome. After pledging about $2.2bn in bill credits over two years when the deal was announced in May, in mid-September the companies extended these for four years. A guarantee that Dominion staff will be kept employed for 18 months became five years.
Dominion said the updated package would expand bill relief, protect customers from merger costs and ensure data centres “pay their fair share”.
NextEra has touted its record in Florida, where it says residential bills at its Florida Power & Light subsidiary are 37 per cent below the national average. It says Dominion, which has a triple B plus credit rating, should be upgraded to single A minus at close.
NextEra said the deal terms would deliver benefits for Virginia’s customers and “reflect what we’ve heard from the governor, legislative leaders, unions and community and civic leaders”.
Responses to the sweeteners have been mixed. State senator Russet Perry told the FT the bill credits are “peanuts” — given that residential electricity prices have risen nearly 14 per cent in Virginia since January 2025.
Others see potential benefits.
“NextEra has a pretty solid reputation when it comes to operations and maintenance expenses,” said Christian Tucker, associate at Christian & Barton, which represents large industrial energy users in state energy proceedings. “The great uncertainty is how realistic and quick those savings are.”
Regulatory experts say the legal test the commission faces is narrower than the political debate surrounding the deal. Mark Christie, a former commissioner at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, said the regulator can only block the deal if the takeover would result in much higher bills than if the deal did not occur.
“That’s a narrow standard,” he said.