Proposed Merger Fails Public Interest Scrutiny NextEra Energy and Dominion Energy — two of the nation’s highest polluting utilities with record-high profits — submitted applications to the North Carolina Utilities Commission, South Carolina Public Service Commission, and the Virginia State Corporation Commission to merge into one single utility. The proposed merger fails public interest scrutiny. While the proposed merger includes approximately $10 per month in bill credits for 24 months for a typical 1,000 kWh residential customer, the customer “benefit” is still lower than Dominion’s proposed rate increase of $17 per month it filed with the NCUC in May. Beyond the temporary bill credits, the proposed merger does not improve residential customers’ experience: it doesn’t solve long-term affordability, there are no commitments to realize efficiencies in the merger that benefit customers, no commitment to retire aging and expensive coal plants, no limits on building new and increasingly expensive gas-burning power plants, no commitment to expand new energy efficiency programs or enhance existing programs, no requirement to accelerate clean energy investments, and no guardrails or protections for residential customers regarding the impacts of data centers on monthly utility bills. Dominion Virginia claims it needs $55 billion over the next five years for capital costs, while Dominion South Carolina claims it needs $8 billion over that same time. These costs are largely attributable to data centers, not residential customers, and the proposed merger could increase the affordability crisis for customers rather than helping. Changes to the merger proposal must include residential consumer protections, reduced reliance on gas and coal that come with volatile fuel prices, and significant clean energy and energy efficiency investments because they are affordable, fixed-price, and provide benefits to all customers. Should the Commissions approve the applications, Dominion and NextEra will combine to form the country’s largest utility company, servicing 10 million customers across the Southeastern United States. In response to the application, Mikaela Curry, Sierra Club Beyond Coal Campaign Manager in North Carolina, issued the following statement: “The North Carolina Utilities Commission has a responsibility to provide fair regulation of public utilities in the interest of the public, and this merger is neither fair nor in the public interest. We need utilities and decisions that prioritize serving communities and small businesses, the backbone of our state, not consolidation for the sake of serving energy-hungry data centers. Locking in coal retirements, clean energy investments, and consumer protections from data centers is the best way the NCUC can ensure long-term affordable energy and cleaner air for millions of hard-working families, not corporate consolidation that only benefits shareholders.” About the Sierra Club The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person’s right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.
+38 others
