John Ketchum is the CEO of NextEra Energy. Bob Blue is the CEO of Dominion Energy.
Since announcing in May the proposed merger of Dominion Energy and NextEra Energy, we, as chief executives of the two companies, have spent the past several months listening to Virginians.
We have met with hundreds of people across the commonwealth — in Richmond’s Capitol Square, local restaurants, union halls and community meetings, from Hampton Roads to Fairfax to Southwest Virginia. Customers. Elected officials. Employees. Union members. Business owners.
They shared their concerns and asked the right questions.
Why merge? Who is NextEra Energy? What happens to my bill? Will Dominion Energy Virginia still be Virginia’s utility? Will the jobs stay here? Will data centers pay their fair share? Will Virginia build more of its own power instead of importing expensive electricity from other states? And who holds you accountable?
Those questions deserve direct answers.
When we announced this combination, we proposed a strong package of benefits and protections for customers. This week, based on Virginians’ feedback, we are proposing an even stronger package.
Let’s start with utility bills. That is where customers start.
Initially, we proposed a shareholder-funded $10 monthly credit for customers for two years. We are now proposing to extend that relief to four years for residential customers. We would also increase EnergyShare, Dominion Energy’s shareholder-funded low-income financial assistance program, by $100 million through 2038, an up to 50 percent increase.
To be clear, shareholders would pay the costs of this combination. Customers would not pay one cent.
While data centers are an important part of Virginia’s economy, families and small businesses should not be asked to subsidize the infrastructure required to serve them. We support the State Corporation Commission, the General Assembly and Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D) in their efforts to make sure data centers pay their fair share. That’s why, in this package, we would ask data centers to transfer their share of bill credits to residential customers. Growth works only if it pays its own way.
Bill credits matter. But long-term affordability matters, too.
That is one of the main reasons for this combination. Together, our companies can buy, build, finance and operate more efficiently over time. That is not a theory. Since 2006, NextEra Energy’s utility subsidiary, Florida Power & Light, has kept pace with a 60 percent increase in generating capacity as Floridians’ bills were lowered 20 percent in real dollars.
Today, FPL’s typical residential bill is 37 percent below the national average, its nonfuel operating costs are more than 70 percent below the national average, and its reliability is more than 60 percent better.
That record suggests NextEra Energy’s ability to build at scale while operating efficiently and focusing on delivering value to customers over the long term.
Dominion Energy Virginia would remain locally led in Virginia, separately regulated and accountable to the State Corporation Commission, as it is today. Base rates would continue to be set by the commission every two years. That is the answer to who would hold us accountable: Virginia would, in public, on the record, every two years.
The commonwealth imports too much expensive power. Families and businesses ultimately pay for that. This combination is designed to help Virginia build more of the energy it needs and do it more affordably.
We would work through the regulatory process to accelerate solar, battery storage, dispatchable resources and nuclear in Virginia. Affordability, reliability and clean energy are not competing priorities.
Then there is the work itself.
We would maintain Dominion Energy’s employee head count in Virginia for at least five years. We would also add 600 new NextEra Energy jobs in Virginia, and suppliers are expected to bring 400 additional jobs. That is 1,000 new jobs for the commonwealth. And we would build, at shareholder expense, a new headquarters tower adjacent to the existing Dominion Energy tower in downtown Richmond, a tangible, permanent commitment to Virginia.
We would also invest $100 million in workforce development, partnering with unions and Virginia’s colleges, universities and trade schools. And we would create up to a $1 billion, five-year Virginia Supplier Program for contractors, suppliers and service providers doing business in Virginia. The men and women who build Virginia’s energy future should be Virginians.
And Dominion Energy would remain Virginia’s utility. Same name. Same Virginia-based board. Same local leadership. Same crews in the same trucks. Ed Baine, a lifelong Virginian and president of Dominion Energy Virginia, would continue his leadership. The difference is that those teams would have the added scale, resources and capabilities of NextEra Energy behind them.
Virginia already leads in defense and technology. With this combination, it can lead in energy too — not simply as a place where power is consumed but as the place where the future of the electric power industry is built.
That is what this combination can help create and what this new proposal is designed to deliver: more bill relief, more jobs, stronger customer protections, more affordable energy built in Virginia and a utility that remains local and accountable.
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