All Flash, No Fuse: The Emptiness of Spanberger’s Energy Posturing

On May 18th, Virginia’s own Dominion Energy and Florida-based NextEra Energy announced their intention to merge. The proposed $67 billion deal between the two utility providers would be a defining moment in Virginia’s economic transformation and change the scope of the Commonwealth’s capacity for future development. If approved, the deal will create the largest regulated utility company in the world, fundamentally altering who controls the power flowing into Virginia homes and businesses, and bringing market interconnectivity to Virginia at an unprecedented scale. 

Faced with a corporate restructuring of this magnitude, Virginians deserved a rigorous, legally enduring framework to protect their wallets and ensure grid reliability. Instead, Governor Abigail Spanberger’s administration has offered little more than a masterclass in political theater. By substituting executive posturing for structural, legislature-driven solutions, the administration is playing a dangerous game with our state’s energy security.

The Spanberger administration’s most glaring failure is its refusal to let the General Assembly do its job. When it became clear that the State Corporation Commission’s mandatory 180-day review window was entirely inadequate for a multi-billion-dollar deal of this scale and complexity, a bipartisan chorus of lawmakers called for an emergency special session. Conservative leaders like State Senator David Suetterlein and Delegate Joe McNamara rightly argued that the legislature needed to step in and extend the clock by statute.