A U.S. senator is pushing the nation’s top energy regulator to block one of the largest utility mergers ever proposed, warning it would place too much market power in the hands of a single company.
Senator Angus King of Maine filed a letter Monday with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission urging the agency to reject NextEra Energy’s proposed $66.8 billion purchase of Dominion Energy. King argued that combining the two utilities would stifle competition across a service area affecting more than 10 million people.
Last month, NextEra unveiled its plan to acquire Virginia-based Dominion Energy, which would create the world’s largest regulated electric utility. Dominion is notable for serving the highest concentration of data centers anywhere on the globe.
The proposed deal comes amid a wave of large-scale power company mergers driven by surging electricity demand. After roughly two decades of relatively flat consumption, demand has climbed sharply due to the rapid growth of energy-hungry data centers and the widespread shift toward electrifying industries such as transportation.
In his letter, King pointed to the combined 110 gigawatts of electricity-generating capacity the two companies would bring together — representing the country’s largest natural gas power operation and its second-largest nuclear portfolio. “A single firm with that mix of merchant generation, regulated generation, transmission, and load-pocket exposure has powerful incentives and tools to shape regional markets in its favor,” King wrote.
The senator also accused NextEra of previously undermining clean energy competition through lobbying campaigns in New England, and raised additional concerns about the company’s business practices that he said could lead to higher costs for everyday consumers.
NextEra Energy did not respond to a request for comment.
