Ahead of scrutiny by federal regulators, Maine’s governor issued a harshly worded statement about NextEra’s proposed acquisition of Dominion Energy.
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Gov. Janet Mills and officials from four other New England states are calling for tough regulatory scrutiny of NextEra Energy’s proposal to acquire Dominion Energy in a $67 billion deal to create the country’s largest electric utility.
NextEra, headquartered in Juno Beach, Fla., is a Fortune 200 company that owns America’s largest electric utility, while Richmond, Va.-based Dominion is the largest producer of carbon-free electricity in New England.
Ahead of scrutiny by federal regulators, Mills issued a harshly worded statement about the proposed tie-up.
“NextEra’s proposal to acquire Dominion Energy would concentrate too many energy generation and transmission assets in a company that has worked aggressively to suppress competition in Maine and block state priorities that would reduce energy costs,” she said.
“This ill-advised proposal would give one company sole control of several critical energy generating assets in New England, further limit competition, and make it harder to bring energy costs down,” Mills added. “This deal may be good for NextEra’s shareholders, but it’s a bad deal for Maine people.”
Mills' statement follows a joint statement issued by officials from four other New England states (New Hampshire was the lone exception) urging the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the U.S. Department of Justice and all other regulatory bodies reviewing the proposed merger to apply “the highest level of scrutiny” in their review.
The statement was issued by the New England States Committee on Electricity , a not-for-profit entity organized under various state and federal laws.
The group also criticized NextEra for spending resources to “disrupt needed infrastructure development in New England,” and accused Dominion of actions that “could have had dramatic impacts on the region’s resource adequacy.”
