Tadek Wieczorek, Contributing Writer
Local citizens voiced their energy cost concerns to a panel of Virginia Democrats on Wednesday, Sept. 9, at the Energy Costs Listening Tour.
The tour, hosted by Lt. Gov. Ghazala Hashmi, was designed to allow energy experts, politicians and Virginians to discuss the Dominion Energy and NextEra merger.
Present were Del. Charlie Schmidt (D-Richmond), Del.Leslie Mehta (D-Chesterfield), Del. May Nivar (D-Henrico), and Shelby Green, an expert on mergers from Florida. Two Virginia Senators, Schuyler VanValkenburg (D-Henrico) and Mike Jones (D-Chesterfield), were in the crowd.
Virginia’s main electric utility company, Dominion Energy, is prepared to merge with Florida-based company NextEra in what would be the largest public utility corporation in history, according to Dominion Energy.
NextEra is already the largest public utility company in the U.S. by market capitalization, according to Yahoo Finance.
Virginia’s State Corporation Commission is closely reviewing the potential impacts of the merger. On Sept. 10, numerous Virginia localities, including Richmond city, decided to formally intervene in the process, according to CBS6.
Among the top frustrations voiced at this meeting were heightened electricity costs for residents, alongside data center demands and extreme weather.
Kelsey Bagot, a former NextEra senior attorney and current member of Virginia’s State Corporation Commission, sparked discussion at the event.
Critics, including House of Delegates Speaker Don Scott (D-Portsmouth) and Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell (D-Fairfax), have called on Bagot to excuse herself from reviewing the merger due to concerns over conflict of interest. Bagot declined the request in August, stating that the circumstances do not require her to recuse herself. Numerous residents voiced their dismay at this decision.
Some supporters of the merger were present. After their comments, there was audible discontent among audience members, which prompted admonishment from the moderator.
Hashmi said the most moving public comment came from a woman who works for Dominion Energy and is the mother of a disabled child.
“Delegate Mehta sitting right beside me, I know her story personally, she, in fact, ran for office because of the challenges she and her husband faced with a severely disabled child, the loss of that child’s life was a motivating factor,” Hashmi said. “It’s these personal connections that are motivating so many of us to do the work that we’re doing.”
Frustrations over Gov. Abigail Spanberger having not yet called a special session for the General Assembly to review the merger was also brought up. The General Assembly is in a special session after passing the state budget on June 29, but the special session was never completely adjourned.
Senator Mike Jones (D-Chesterfield) said that he does not have the power to reconvene the special session and that it is up to House and Senate leadership.
“We’d create one monstrosity of a corporation,” Jones said. “There are times in which it’s not good to be the record breaker. I don’t think that’s good for us necessarily.”
Members of the General Assembly are aware of the SCC’s mid-January deadline to make a decision on the merger and want to quickly reconvene the special session to pass a law extending the deadline, so that the merger can be fully reviewed during the 2027 regular session. Gov. Spanberger declined to launch a second special session to review the merger, according to Virginia Scope.
The SCC announced that it will hold three public comment hearings, with the first being on Nov. 5 in the SCC’s Richmond courtroom, according to CBS6.