By Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida
Juno Beach-based NextEra Energy, the parent company of Florida Power & Light, announced Monday a deal to buy Richmond, Virginia-based Dominion Energy, combining two of the largest utility providers on the U.S. East Coast.
The deal is projected to be around $67 billion and could take up to 18 months to receive shareholder and regulatory approvals. It comes as energy demand is expected to surge in the coming years, partly due to the growth of artificial intelligence and the large data centers needed to power the technology.
NextEra Energy Chairman, President and CEO John Ketchum said the companies as a merged entity will be able to “buy, build, finance and operate more efficiently.”
“Electricity demand is rising faster than it has in decades,” Ketchum said in a released statement. “Projects are getting larger and more complex. Customers need affordable and reliable power now, not years from now. 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.”
NextEra would own 74.5 percent of the new company, which will continue to trade under the NEE symbol, while Dominion shareholders own 25.5 percent, the release states.
For rate payers, the release states the “combined company’s customers will benefit over time from its enhanced scale in operations, procurement, construction and financing, enabling it to more cost-effectively meet increased electric demand for approximately 10 million customer accounts.”
Dominion provides power to 3.6 million customers in Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, and regulated natural gas service to 500,000 customers in South Carolina. The company also develops and operates regulated offshore wind and solar power in New England.
Among Dominion’s service territory is “Data Center Alley” in Ashburn, Virginia, which hosts nearly 300 data centers, including facilities for Google, Meta and Amazon.
FPL has more than six million customer accounts, serving approximately 12 million people, across South Florida, the East Coast and the Panhandle.
NextEra Energy anticipates the all-stock transaction will improve its existing credit rating thresholds, while Dominion Energy and Dominion Energy Virginia are expected to benefit from improved ratings and related reductions in financing costs.
The merged company initially plans to maintain “dual headquarters” in Richmond and Juno Beach and an “operational headquarters” in South Carolina.
According to the release, the boards of directors for both companies have already approved the transaction.
The deal is subject to approval by shareholders of both companies, termination of the waiting period under federal law, approval by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and approval by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
The release states the companies will also file for approvals from the Virginia State Corporation Commission, the North Carolina Utilities Commission and the Public Service Commission of South Carolina.
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