Dominion, NextEra Add Virginia Suppliers to Merger Pitch

A proposed supplier program could channel as much as $1 billion a year into Virginia for five years, but only if NextEra Energy’s $66.8 billion acquisition of Dominion Energy clears the state’s regulatory hurdles.

The companies said the spending would support Virginia contractors, equipment suppliers, service providers, engineering firms and construction partners. They also plan to use their combined purchasing scale to draw more vendors into the state, expand the Port of Virginia’s role in the energy supply chain and hire local firms for a new NextEra office tower beside Dominion’s Richmond headquarters.

The commitment is part of a broader package designed to answer political resistance to the merger. NextEra and Dominion are proposing to extend a $10 monthly residential bill credit from two years to four, add $100 million to Dominion’s EnergyShare assistance program through 2038 and create a separate $100 million workforce-development fund. The enhanced offer also includes 600 new NextEra jobs, an estimated 400 supplier-linked positions and a pledge to maintain Dominion’s current Virginia employment levels for five years.

That backdrop matters. Virginia has become one of the largest data-center markets in the United States, turning electricity demand, grid construction and customer costs into increasingly sensitive political issues. The companies said credits that had been earmarked for large data centers would help fund the longer residential benefit, while reaffirming that major power users should bear the costs of serving them.

Dominion and NextEra say the combination would create the world’s largest regulated electric utility by market value and give Virginia access to greater capital, procurement scale and project-development capacity. Their plans include faster investment in solar, storage, dispatchable generation and nuclear technologies, though those promises will still face scrutiny from regulators and lawmakers.

Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger has intervened in the review and previously expressed deep skepticism about whether the acquisition would benefit the state. The Virginia State Corporation Commission is expected to hold evidentiary hearings in November. Both companies’ shareholders approved the merger earlier in September, but federal, state and other regulatory approvals remain outstanding. The companies continue to target closing in the second half of 2027.