For an opposing point of view, see “NextEra-Dominion’s AI future could reshape Virginia’s economy — and its energy politics” by former Wise County Clerk of Court Jack Kennedy.
NextEra Energy’s proposed acquisition of Dominion Energy would create the largest electric utility monopoly in the United States. Virginia has one chance to get it right. Before this deal moves forward, Virginia regulators and policymakers should take a hard look at NextEra’s record in Florida.
(Disclosure: Dominion is one of our donors but donors have no say in news decisions; see our policy.)
Virginians do not choose their electric utility. A utility monopoly is a public trust, not a market reward. Virginia grants that privilege under one condition: put customers first. Any company seeking to inherit that monopoly must prove it will honor that obligation. And if NextEra’s history is any indication, it is likely to fail that test.
Through its principal subsidiary, Florida Power & Light (FPL), the company has been tied to election manipulation schemes, efforts to undermine competition and dark money operations designed to influence regulators at the expense of its customers. A federal appeals court described a case against the company as containing “corporate malfeasance, bribery, off-the-books recordkeeping, surveilling journalists, creating ghost candidates, corrupting independent media outlets, and a failed acquisition that spiraled into two federal indictments.” Those are a judge’s words. Most infamously, operatives allegedly tied to Florida Power & Light participated in the state’s “ghost candidate” scandal by backing noncompetitive independent candidates with the same last names as Democratic candidates the utility wanted to defeat, a tactic designed to confuse voters and alter election outcomes.
FPL’s former CEO resigned abruptly in 2023 amid federal scrutiny. NextEra subsequently settled a securities fraud class action lawsuit. The executives who oversaw FPL’s political operations remain in place. These are not old controversies — they are a record.
At the same time, Florida customers have experienced enormous rate increases under FPL. Opponents called a recent $6.9 billion rate increase in 2025 “the largest in American history.” Recent analysis found that corporate profits accounted for more than 27 cents of every dollar a customer paid — nearly double the national average and the highest percentage of profit in the country.
NextEra is touting $2.25 billion in one-time bill credits for Dominion customers spread across millions of customers over three states during a two-year period. This is a temporary payment, not a structural reduction in bills. The real question is not what Virginians receive up front. It is what they will be charged over the next decade and beyond.
Utilities charge customers the costs of their own guaranteed profit on every dollar invested in infrastructure. The more they spend, and the higher their guaranteed profit rate — known as “return on equity” or ROE — the more shareholders make and the more customers pay. NextEra’s announcement makes no binding commitment on ROE, while simultaneously projecting annual 11% growth in infrastructure investments through 2035. More investment at higher profit levels means higher bills, not lower ones. Every Virginian should be alarmed by that combination.
Virginia has already spent years wrestling with the outsized political influence of monopoly utilities. Lawmakers, advocates and everyday citizens have fought long battles to hold our utilities accountable, to protect customers from unfair costs, and to shift towards affordable clean energy. This merger risks making those challenges larger, more powerful and harder to fix.
The State Corporation Commission must hold public hearings and require full disclosure of NextEra’s political spending history. In those hearings, the Virginia attorney general will play a pivotal role in determining whether this merger truly serves the public. Attorney General Jay Jones has stated that his office will scrutinize the regulatory filings to protect ratepayers. That independence matters. Past attorneys general charged with defending ratepayers accepted campaign contributions from the very utilities they were supposed to oversee. Jones was the only candidate in the attorney general race who refused utility money. Given the financial stakes of this proceeding, that independence is not a footnote — it is essential.
The General Assembly must also act. Virginia remains one of only four states that allow unlimited corporate campaign contributions. NextEra’s Florida playbook — ghost candidates, dark money, co-opted regulators — is exactly what unlimited corporate spending enables. The time to close that door is before NextEra arrives in Richmond to launch its influence campaigns, not after.
This moment is bigger than a merger. It is about whether Virginia’s energy future will be governed by public accountability or unchecked monopoly power. If NextEra cannot commit — in binding, enforceable terms — to lower bills, lower profit margins, clean energy delivery and a clean break from its history of political manipulation, this deal should be dead on arrival.
The people who will live with the consequences are not shareholders. They are Virginia families who have no other option.
Brennan Gilmore serves as the executive director of Clean Virginia, a Charlottesville-based nonprofit.
