Sierra Club Virginia Testimony Opposes Dominion and NextEra’s Proposal to Form Nation’s Largest Utility

Richmond, VA. – The Sierra Club told the Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) that the NextEra Energy and Dominion Energy’s merger must be denied because it creates significant risks for customers and neglects applicable state laws including Virginia’s Clean Economy Act (VCEA), according to expert testimony. Sierra Club’s filing identified multiple ways the proposed merger could risk Virginia families’ ability to receive electricity services at just and reasonable rates, as mandated by the state’s long-standing Utility Transfers Act.

Dominion and NextEra have yet to demonstrate that benefits to customers, rather than shareholders, were a principal consideration for the merger. Additionally, there is little evidence that the utilities conducted a thorough analysis of the potential customer risks or quantifiable benefits of a merger as compared to the status quo. 

The Sierra Club argues that the SCC must reject the proposed merger, in large part, because of the significant risk it poses to energy affordability for every-day Virginians. The merger will likely result in increased costs to customers for a variety of reasons, including the utility potentially overbuilding to recoup transaction costs and ignoring VCEA mandates. Dominion Virginia already plans to run fossil fuel plants past the facilities’ VCEA-mandated 2045 retirement date. 

While the utilities have offered a temporary $10 per month customer bill credit for four years, this credit does not even cover the additional $30 per month Virginia customers are expected to pay in anticipated rate hikes and additional costs to maintain coal and gas plants over the next year.

If approved, the merger of the two highly polluting utilities would result in the creation of the nation’s largest ever utility company, servicing 10 million customers across the Southeastern United States. Research has shown that concentrated corporate power costs U.S. workers more than $1 trillion in lost income annually as consumers pay higher prices and workers have fewer potential employers. 

In response, Connor Kish, Director of the Sierra Club Virginia Chapter, issued the following statement:

“Dominion’s shareholders are slated to profit $10 billion from a proposed merger with NextEra. Meanwhile, a temporary $10 month credit for customers will not even begin to undo the damage Dominion has already done by bending to data center demand and standing by coal and gas plants while cleaner, cheaper energy options are available.”

“In 2026, Dominion customers paid an additional $22 monthly to keep polluting, health-harming coal and gas plants online. In the new year, costs are expected to increase another $8. The SCC must reject this reckless merger. Dominion has yet to prove the livelihood of everyday, hardworking Virginians have been considered above the billion dollar profits promised to shareholders.”