Staunton, VA, May 21, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — We encourage Governor Abigail Spanberger, Attorney General Jay Jones, the State Corporation Commission, and the General Assembly to have a cautionary response to the proposed merger between NextEra Energy and Dominion Energy. A thoughtful approach to this potentially pivotal merger would be both prudent and timely.
As several respected public-interest organizations have already noted, Virginia ratepayers could face a significant worst-case scenario if this merger simply accelerates centralized infrastructure spending while shifting additional costs and risks onto households and businesses. It would also make it very challenging to counter the political influence of an entity with a combined net worth five times larger than Dominion.
Groups including Public Citizen and Clean Virginia have warned that the merger could prove “contrary to the public interest” unless strong protections are established for affordability, transparency, competition, and grid modernization.
“Virginia now stands at a pivotal crossroads,” said Tony Smith, CEO of Secure Solar Futures and President of the Virginia Distributed Solar Alliance. “Rapid growth in data centers, electrification, and advanced manufacturing is putting unprecedented pressure on the PJM grid and on Virginia families already facing rising electricity bills. Multiple analyses have warned that without structural reforms, ratepayers could face escalating costs, reliability risks, and expensive overbuilding of centralized infrastructure.”
At the same time, this moment also presents an extraordinary opportunity.
Rather than simply debating the merger through a traditional utility lens, Virginia should use this moment to explore how a transformed utility model could accelerate grid optimization through Distributed Energy Resources (DERs), battery storage, virtual power plants, energy efficiency, demand response, and advanced grid management.
“The Virginia Distributed Solar Alliance (VA-DSA) is committed to evaluating best-case, base-case, and worst-case scenarios for how this proposed merger could either hinder — or help accelerate — Virginia’s transition toward a more affordable, resilient, sustainable, and secure energy system.”
The key question is not simply who owns the utility.
The deeper question is whether Virginia’s energy future will continue relying primarily on costly centralized infrastructure expansion — or whether the Commonwealth will embrace a next-generation “VCEA II” strategy focused on optimizing the grid we already have through smarter deployment of DERs and storage, as envisioned by the Virginia Clean Economy Act of 2020.
Emerging research increasingly suggests that grid optimization may be one of the fastest and least-cost pathways to improving affordability and reliability. Studies cited in recent policy discussions note that the grid is often significantly underutilized outside of peak periods, while technologies such as battery storage, DER aggregation, and virtual power plants can reduce strain on the system and defer costly infrastructure upgrades.
Importantly, federal policy is also moving in this direction. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Order 2222 is opening wholesale electricity markets to aggregated DERs, creating new opportunities for customer participation, grid flexibility, and lower-cost solutions.
Virginia’s recently enacted HB434 (Bolling)/SB262 (Srinavasen) similarly directs utilities and regulators to evaluate grid utilization metrics and non-wires alternatives as part of future planning.
Virginia’s leadership is right to ask hard questions now — before irreversible decisions are made.
If structured thoughtfully, this merger debate could become more than a corporate transaction. It could become the catalyst for a broader public conversation about how Virginia modernizes its grid, protects ratepayers, and builds an energy system designed not simply to expand, but to optimize, adapt, and evolve for the decades ahead.
- Virginia Distributed Solar Alliance