Virginia Lieutenant Governor Ghazala Hashmi brought her Energy Costs Listening Tour to Charlottesville Monday night, where residents pressed state lawmakers over the proposed merger between Dominion Energy and Florida-based NextEra Energy. WMRA’s Anjoleigh Schindler reports.
The meeting at the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center was the fourth stop on Hashmi’s statewide tour.
She was joined by state Senator Creigh Deeds, Delegates Katrina Callsen and Amy Laufer, and energy policy expert Kajsa Foskey.
The focus was a proposed $67 billion merger that would put Dominion Energy under NextEra and create what the companies say would be the world’s largest for profit regulated electric utility.
Many of the people who stepped up to the microphone in Charlottesville were clear: they don’t want it.
EMILY: When my patients come in and they’re struggling with paying their energy bills ... what should I tell them to choose? Which bill should they pay and which should they not?
Emily, who identified herself only by her first name during public comment, said she is a Charlottesville resident and a nurse at the Charlottesville Free Clinic. She was one of several residents who connected the merger to concerns about already-rising household costs.
Others raised questions about environmental impacts, utility shutoffs, corporate influence and Virginia’s rapidly growing energy demand from data centers.
That demand was also on Deeds’ mind.
CREIGH DEEDS: Dominion says that their demand will increase by twofold over the next ten years. That’s entirely driven by data centers.
The public pressure comes as Dominion and NextEra are making a new push to build support for the merger.
On the same day as the Charlottesville meeting, the companies announced an expanded package of benefits for Virginia if regulators approve the deal.
That includes extending proposed residential bill credits of $10 a month from two years to four, adding $100 million to a low-income energy assistance program, and promising hundreds of new jobs and additional investment in Virginia.
The companies say combining their resources would help keep electricity affordable, support reliability and build new energy infrastructure more efficiently.
But the announcement did little to quiet opposition in the room Monday night.
Some residents directly asked the lawmakers onstage to come out against the merger.
Callsen has said she opposes it. Deeds said he remains skeptical, but stopped short of outright opposition.
DEEDS: I’ve been on record as being very cynical about the acquisition. I’ve got lots of questions about it. They’ve not been answered. ... The General Assembly does not make this call. This has to be decided by the State Corporation Commission.
Laufer also said she wants to do more research before taking a position.
Ultimately, Virginia’s State Corporation Commission — or SCC — must decide whether the merger is in the public interest.
Hashmi has argued regulators need more time to examine a deal of this size.
She told the crowd the merger also can’t be separated from the larger debate over how Virginia will meet its growing electricity needs.
GHAZALA HASHMI: This is not happening in isolation. This merger is part of a long history. It’s also a forecast of where Virginia is going. ... Virginia is attractive because our energy demand is growing. Our energy demand is growing because we are the data center capital of the world.
Governor Abigail Spanberger has also formally intervened in the SCC’s review. She says any potential deal should deliver long-term energy savings, protect Virginia utility jobs and advance the state’s goals for affordable, reliable and clean energy.
The SCC is accepting written public comments on the merger through November 9. Public witness hearings are scheduled for November 5, 9 and 10, followed by an evidentiary hearing beginning November 17.
Hashmi’s Energy Costs Listening Tour has one more stop, in Roanoke on September 24.
