Two utilities serving 10 million customers in the Southeast announced they will be combining to create the country’s largest regulated electric utility business. NextEra Energy and Dominion Energy will merge under the NextEra name within the next 12 to 18 months, after government approval.
The combined company will be more than 80% regulated, serve approximately 10 million utility customer accounts across Florida, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina and own 110 GW of generation across a broad mix of energy sources. Additionally, the combined company is proposing $2.25 billion in bill credits for Dominion Energy’s customers in Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina spread over two years post-close.
Although eventually operating under the NextEra name, Dominion Energy’s utility companies will continue to operate as Dominion Energy Virginia, Dominion Energy North Carolina and Dominion Energy South Carolina.
John Ketchum (current NextEra CEO) will serve as chairman and CEO of the combined company, and Robert Blue (current CEO of Dominion Energy) will serve as president and CEO of regulated utilities and as a member of the board of directors. Edward Baine will be president and CEO of Dominion Energy Virginia, Keller Kissam will be president and CEO of Dominion Energy South Carolina and Scott Bores will be president and CEO of Florida Power & Light Company.
“This is a historic moment for our two companies and for the states we are privileged to serve. Electricity demand is rising faster than it has in decades. Projects are getting larger and more complex. Customers need affordable and reliable power now, not years from now,” said John Ketchum, chairman, president and CEO of NextEra Energy. “We are bringing NextEra Energy and Dominion Energy together because scale matters more than ever — not for the sake of size, but because scale translates into capital and operating efficiencies. It enables us to buy, build, finance and operate more efficiently, which translates into more affordable electricity for our customers in the long run.”
