|
You are a free subscriber to Let’s Address Virginia. Meaning your readership helps us reach more people. When you’re ready, I’d love you to join us as a paid subscriber.
The Referee Used to Work for the Other Team
The chair of the commission deciding the Dominion-NextEra merger spent 19 months as a NextEra attorney. She recused from a NextEra case before. Not this one.
|
| |||||||||||||||
In the lead-up to the World Cup final, imagine learning that the head referee used to work for one of the teams. You’d be rightfully upset, saying there’s a clear conflict of interest here. Right here in Virginia, we’re seeing that issue play out on a field that will impact us all. NextEra, a Florida-based energy company, wants to buy Dominion Energy - which would create the largest energy monopoly in the nation. There’s a body of 3 commissioners that will review this merger. The person chairing it - the head ref - is Kelsey Bagot. Kelsey used to work as an attorney at NextEra. There’s a clear conflict of interest here. Let’s address this.
Why Kelsey Bagot is a name you should know
Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell wrote to Chair Bagot - chair of Virginia’s State Corporation Commission (SCC) - and asked her if she intended to recuse herself. In a response, Bagot said she had not found recusal necessary. Her reasoning looked at longstanding commissioner practice not to treat work history with a regulated entity as automatically requiring recusal.
Yet, when she previously had a NextEra case before her, Bagot recused herself.
Her own practice shows she should recuse herself from the biggest utility merger in the nation’s history. Whatever “longstanding practice” has been, this is the kind of case where the exception swallows the rule.
Concerns about Chair Bagot are real and were raised several times during a listening session Wednesday night, hosted by Lt. Governor Ghazala Hashmi.
 |
Most Virginians know Dominion, but most don’t know the SCC
The SCC is a court, not a commission in the ordinary sense. Rate cases are filed and litigated like lawsuits and the commissioners rule on them. Appeals bypass the ordinary appellate path and go to the Virginia Supreme Court. There’s no agency above it to appeal to, no cabinet secretary to complain about.
The three SCC Commissioners are elected by the General Assembly, not appointed by the governor. They have six-year staggered terms - their seats are up every even-numbered year. The same legislators who receive millions from Dominion Energy are the ones selecting the SCC’s commissioners. The water is already tainted. But if you thought Dominion’s hand in state politics was bad, NextEra is notorious for giving even more money and using any means necessary to secure their profits.
Three Commissioners is a vulnerability because two become a controlling majority. Their judgment sets utility policy for the whole Commonwealth. A Chairperson with a conflict of interest is not a footnote; it is potentially decisive and will quickly impact your wallet during a time of economic hardship. Adding two seats doesn’t clean the water because the General Assembly still does the electing. What it does is make it more expensive to buy the outcome. With three commissioners, two votes control the Commonwealth’s entire utility policy. With five, one conflicted chair can’t be half of a majority.
Who is NextEra?
NextEra is notorious for historic rate increases on customers over the past year. Additionally, in 2024, NextEra disconnected 1.23 million customers. Florida legislation to protect people from shutoffs during severe weather was killed by NextEra.
This is not a company with the people’s best interests at heart. This is a company that has one goal: to create value for shareholders by any means necessary. Even if it means fighting a bill to keep the power on during storms.
Dominion’s own conduct
Virginians are already struggling with recent increases in our Dominion bills. Rates are rising as the Strait of Hormuz blockage pushes fuel costs up, and those costs land on us. Meanwhile, Dominion spends tens of millions of dollars on contributions to candidates and elected officials and on community events — money that could go toward consumer savings instead. All the money going into those buckets pales in comparison to their net income growing from $2,000,000,000 in 2024 to $3,000,000,000 in 2025. A 50% jump in one year while all our bills climbed.
Are Data Centers involved here?
Absolutely. Virginia is the data center capital of the world. These data centers, especially AI data centers, are coming for our land, water, air, and our jobs. While data centers are fixated on that, NextEra is chomping at the bit to become the energy supplier to these energy sucks, while also building the infrastructure to build more and more AI data centers.
While the NextEra/Dominion merger will cause your energy bill to increase, you’ll see even more increases due to how we’re on the hook to pay for data centers’ energy use. Senate Democrats estimate that data center sales tax exemption costs Virginia about $1.6 billion in foregone revenue a year. We, as consumers, absorb the cost of the new generation capacity these facilities require. Earlier this year, Governor Spanberger urged state regulators to protect Virginians from new energy costs, after which the SCC ruled on July 31 that data centers must pay for their own dedicated transmission lines. The commission can protect us when it’s pushed. This is why it is important that the chair is not conflicted on a $67 billion merger. Your opportunity to push the SCC will come later this year. They just announced three listening sessions will be held regarding the merger. A public comment period is also open; we’ll have more information and templates available in October.
 |
As Delegate Charlie Schmidt said, “They socialize the risk and privatize the profit.” Only this time, profits will accrue to an entity over which Virginia no longer has control. Why would anyone want this deal?
The Case Against the Merger
In August, Governor Spanberger became the first governor of Virginia to intervene with the SCC. Her office is focused on “delivering more affordable energy bills for Virginians, protecting Virginia’s utility workforce, and accelerating Virginia’s progress toward producing affordable, reliable, local, and clean power into the future.” Spanberger doesn’t have the power to approve the deal; that power rests with the three commissioners on the SCC, one of whom won’t step aside.
During the Wednesday night session, Sean Crippen - Board President of VA Community Voice - said, “My high school teacher taught me that Monopolies are illegal. Yet, here we are. When we have a problem with Verizon, we switch to Xfinity. When we have a problem with Xfinity, we switch to Verizon. But when we have issues with Dominion, we have nowhere else to go.” An audience member added, “Monopolies are never good. Nobody ever wants to land on Boardwalk when there’s a hotel on it. That’s what this merger will do.”
Later, scientist Sean Sublette spoke during the audience feedback session and said, “The devil you know is better than the one that you don’t know.” This resonated with the audience because Dominion, as flawed as it is, is a Virginia entity that answers to the General Assembly. And, with more elected officials not taking Dominion money, the General Assembly will be able to fight for people’s needs rather than corporate greed.
Should NextEra’s merger go through — which 98% of Dominion’s shareholders voted for — it would become the largest utility in the nation and a monopoly that runs up and down the eastern seaboard. Our legislative leverage would be gone.
Three things you need to do
Email House and Senate Leadership to hold a special session. Technically, the General Assembly is still in special session because the previous one never formally adjourned. The special session must extend the merger review period, address the expansion of the SCC from three to five commissioners (which is constitutional), and remove Kelsey Bagot from the SCC. I’ve put together a template to send to House/Senate leadership to make it as painless as possible. My only ask is that you include your personal details where it calls for it and to include a personal story/thoughts in the relevant section. This shouldn’t take more than 5 minutes.
Activate your network. Share this with your neighbors, family, friends, Facebook groups, NextDoor, Reddit, etc. Ring the alarm.
Learn more by visiting StopNextEra.com.
Onward and upward,
Salaam
P.S. Join our Facebook page to keep the conversation going.
 |
Rather than a monthly subscription, you can now make a one-time contribution to support our human rights platform at any amount that fits your budget.
You're currently a free subscriber to Let's Address Virginia. For the full experience, upgrade your subscription.
| ||||||||||
