Who controls Virginia's power: Richmond or Juno Beach?

RICHMOND, Va. - Dominion Energy has been run from Richmond for generations. If NextEra Energy's purchase goes through, the parent company will be headquartered in Juno Beach, Fla. State Corporation Commission staff says Virginia needs protections to make sure the people running the Virginia utility answer to Virginia.

Dual headquarters on paper

NextEra has committed to "maintain dual corporate headquarters in Juno Beach, Florida and Richmond, Virginia," to keep Dominion Energy Virginia's operating headquarters in Richmond, and to keep each Dominion utility's current president in place (staff testimony, p. 134). It also pledged a new office tower in Richmond (p. 157).

But a headquarters is not the same thing as control. Staff concluded that the merger as filed would expose the Virginia utility to "the additional financial and business risks of NextEra's unregulated, competitive businesses" (p. 6), and that the companies have not met the legal standard for approval.

The protections staff wants

Staff recommends three structural conditions: an independent Dominion Energy Virginia board of directors, a bankruptcy-remote special purpose entity, and metric-based limits on dividends paid by the utility to its parent (pp. 7, 14).

The "golden share" is part of that second piece. The special purpose entity would have at least one independent director and would issue a non-economic Golden Share to an outside administration company. A voluntary bankruptcy petition by the entity would require the consent of the Golden Share holder (p. 119). The design is meant to keep a parent company's financial trouble from dragging the Virginia utility down with it.

Staff also wants Virginia to keep decision-making power over how Dominion Energy Virginia meets data center demand (p. 6), a 10-year jobs floor, a 10-year ban on consolidating plants and district offices, and a review proceeding seven to eight years after closing (p. 7).

NextEra's record with control conditions

Staff's testimony reviewed what happened when other states demanded similar protections. In Texas, NextEra sought to buy Oncor. The Texas regulator found that "a truly independent board of directors at Oncor" was "a critical part of the ring fence," and required that a majority of Oncor's board be independent and that independent directors could veto dividends. NextEra had represented that if those ring-fencing protections were required, it would not be able to close the transaction (p. 170). The Texas commission found the deal was not in the public interest without them (p. 171).

In Hawaii, regulators dismissed NextEra's application to acquire Hawaiian Electric in 2016 (p. 164).

That history shows the stakes. Strong Virginia control conditions could protect customers, or they could lead NextEra to walk away.

What leaves Richmond if control moves

One thing that has always been decided in Richmond is Dominion's political spending. VPAP figures show the company's top 20 Democratic recipients took at least $8.42 million in 2025-26 and at least $7.15 million in 2023-24, including Speaker Don Scott, Majority Leader Scott Surovell and Sen. Mamie Locke at about $600,000 each this cycle. Its top 20 Republican recipients took about $5.58 million in 2025-26, led by Attorney General Jason Miyares at $1.42 million. Virginia Scope, using VPAP data, puts Dominion's giving since 2018 at nearly $18 million to Democrats and more than $15 million to Republicans. Federally, OpenSecrets reports Dominion Energy PAC gave $117,800 to Democratic candidates and $162,500 to Democratic PACs and party committees in 2023-24.

If those decisions moved to Juno Beach and the giving stopped, a hypothetical, Democrats would lose at least $7 million to $8.5 million per state cycle and roughly $280,000 per federal cycle. The staff filing does not discuss political giving, and NextEra has its own PAC that could step in.

The evidentiary hearing begins Nov. 17. NextEra has not said publicly whether it will accept an independent Dominion Energy Virginia board.

Page numbers refer to the 201-page public version of SCC Staff's prefiled testimony, Volume I of VII, in Case PUR-2026-00112 (SCC document 261030140), filed Oct. 19, 2026.