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NextEra Energy to Acquire Dominion Energy for $66.8 Billion
The deal would create the largest U.S. electric utility. It follows rising power demand from AI data centers in regulated markets.
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NextEra Energy announced on May 18, 2026, that it would acquire Dominion Energy for $66.8 billion. The transaction would combine NextEra, parent of Florida Power and Light, with Dominion, which holds monopoly rights to distribute electricity in northern Virginia and operates subsidiaries in North Carolina, South Carolina and Utah.
Fortune reported that the primary driver cited for the merger is rising electricity demand from AI data centers rather than residential load growth.
Dominion controls service territory that includes the area known as data center alley in northern Virginia. Approximately 70 percent of U.S. households receive electricity from investor-owned utilities.
Electricity markets remain regulated in 28 states and deregulated in 22 states, with middleman companies competing to sell power in 14 of the deregulated states. In regulated markets, utilities are permitted an approximate 10 percent profit margin on infrastructure investments but are generally not allowed to earn profit on the sale of electricity itself.
Deregulation began in some states in the late 1990s.
NextEra has developed large renewable-energy projects that sell power under long-term contracts in deregulated markets, including a solar farm in Michigan. The company maintains its headquarters in Juno, Florida, and employed one lobbyist for every two state legislators in Florida.
Fortune reported that investor-owned utilities pursue four overlapping profit strategies: monopoly operations, trading in deregulated markets, mergers and acquisitions, and regulatory influence.
The article states that NextEra’s acquisition of Dominion aims to rebalance risk by adding regulated monopoly assets while supporting infrastructure buildout for data centers. Conor Harrison, Associate Professor of Economic Geography at the University of South Carolina, said utilities are jostling for position to benefit from data center demand and that bigger companies seek more market and lobbying power.
