VA Lt. Gov. Hashmi Has 64 Questions about the NextEra-Dominion Merger. Here are Her 3 Toughest Ones.

On July 6, Virginia Lt. Governor Ghazala Hashmi sent a letter to the State Corporation Commission, the state’s utility regulator, asking them to require NextEra and Dominion to answer a battery of questions before they file their application to merge.

“As Lieutenant Governor, my foremost duty is to advocate for the economic well-being and long-term interests of the citizens of the Commonwealth,” wrote Hashmi, who was elected in fall of 2025 without taking any campaign contributions from Dominion.

“The proposed acquisition involving Dominion Energy (Dominion) and NextEra Energy (NextEra) carries unprecedented implications for Virginia’s consumers and regulatory landscape. As such, I write to request the Commission use its established authority to ensure a thorough review framework is in place as you begin your review of the companies’ proposed merger.”

Virginia’s #2 ranking state official is urging the SCC to require the companies to answer detailed questions in advance, both to save time during the rushed 6-month review period and to uncover critical information that the companies may gloss over without being specifically prompted to gather and disclose such information.

Hashmi is concerned that the standard format of the SCC merger filing may allow the companies to “frame the narrative in their own terms, potentially omitting the details, rigorous data support, and challenging topics necessary for a true public-interest review.”

To pry that information out of the companies, Hashmi offers 64 questions in nearly a dozen categories covering the purpose of the merger (to benefit Virginia ratepayers or to boost shareholder returns?), costs of the deal and who will pay those costs (ratepayers?), and “Bill credits” (which she renders in quotation marks, appearing to express skepticism of their purpose and value).

These all seem like questions that the companies may prefer to avoid answering in detail. That’s why Hashmi asks that all answers be attributed to a named human author (rather than the company in general) and include backup documentation.

The Toughest of Tough Questions

In our opinion, here are the three toughest questions that the Lt. Governor wants NextEra and Dominion to answer. First, the big question for any regulated monopoly utility about whether its actions serve the public interest or merely its own private interests:

#4. Is the dominant purpose of this transaction to improve service or lower costs for the customers? If the answer is yes, what is the evidence to support the answer? Is any purpose to improve service or lower costs for the customers? (By “purpose,” I mean in terms of the original intent of the two companies, not in terms of their post-negotiations strategy to win support and approval).

Who is the merger intended to benefit most, Virginia ratepayers or company shareholders? In the past, utility mergers have raised costs for customers. The “Bill credit” appears to be an implicit admission that ratepayer costs will rise in this case also. So, of course, Hashmi is not reassured — see question #59 below.

Up next, a question about “improvements” that will come to Dominion as a result of the merger, as promised in the two companies’ investor presentation and elsewhere:

#39. (a) Precisely which current Dominion or Dominion Virginia practices, if any, is NextEra committing to improve? (b) Precisely what is suboptimal about those current Dominion or Dominion Virginia practices? (c) Identify the Dominion executives currently responsible for those practices. (d) Explain why Dominion Virginia or Dominion is not making those improvements on its own, and why it cannot make those improvements without being acquired by NextEra. (e) If the Commission today ordered Dominion Virginia to make those improvements, without an acquisition of Dominion, would the changes occur? If not, why not? (f) Identify all other changes that NextEra intends to make to Dominion Virginia’s current practices. (g) Identify the specific executives responsible for making these changes, the schedule for making them, and the consequences for those individuals if they fail to make the changes. (h) Identify the consequences that the Commission should impose on the combined company if the identified improvements do not occur.

Hashmi wants them to be specific about what’s wrong with Dominion now, why the company can’t fix it on its own, and — talk about a tough question — who at Dominion is responsible for the not-fixing. Ouch.

Finally, the companies have pledged to distribute a total of $2.25 billion in bill credits during the first two years after the merger is finalized. Other questions in this section ask where the money will come from. This one asks what bill credits are really for, and, whether they’re anti-competitive:

#59. Would it be inaccurate to characterize the proposed bill credit as short-term inducement, unrelated to the actual meshing of the two companies, to win approval? Would a Commission policy of basing its acquisition approvals on the size of a temporary financial inducement be discriminatory against other potential acquirers whose smaller size prevented them from offering such an inducement—despite their ability to show more efficiencies inherent in the transaction itself?

Would it be fair to say that this question is asking whether “Bill credits” are a just gimmick?

Read the full list of 64 questions for yourself and see which ones you think would be the toughest for the companies to answer!