NextEra to Acquire Dominion in $67B Deal Amid AI-Driven Power Demand

NextEra Energy is seeking to acquire Dominion Energy in an all-stock deal valued at approximately $67 billion, creating a massive power company as the energy demands of artificial intelligence drive growth in the United States, the companies announced Monday.

The proposed merger is one of the largest this year and would create the world’s largest regulated electric utility business by market capitalization, the firms said.

The combined entity will serve roughly 10 million utility customers across Florida, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina, a region with fast population growth and the world’s largest data center hub in Virginia.

Executives said the deal will accelerate the construction of power infrastructure to supply electricity to data centers seeking connections to NextEra and Dominion, representing approximately 130 gigawatts of demand. One gigawatt can power about 750,000 homes.

The merger builds on NextEra’s strategy to capitalize on surging demand from Big Tech for data center electricity, primarily for AI development and deployment. Over the past year, the Florida-based company reached an agreement with Alphabet’s Google to restart a nuclear plant in Iowa and was named developer of two natural-gas-fired data center hubs in Texas and Pennsylvania.

Virginia-based Dominion holds nearly 51 gigawatts of contracted data center capacity, with clients including Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, Equinix, CoreWeave and CyrusOne.

The potential tie-up comes as consumers concerned about rising electric bills push back against data center development. Governors, attorneys general and others in several states have protested rate increases they say burden residents.

Officials and lawmakers in at least six states—Arizona, Indiana, Maryland, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania—are taking unprecedented steps to block proposed utility rate hikes, with some pressing for fundamental changes in how utilities finance major system upgrades.

Under the terms, Dominion shareholders will receive a fixed exchange ratio of 0.8138 shares of NextEra Energy for each Dominion share. They will continue to receive Dominion’s current quarterly dividend until closing, plus a one-time cash payment of $360 million at closing.

NextEra stockholders will own 74.5 percent of the combined business, while Dominion stockholders will hold 25.5 percent.

NextEra CEO John Ketchum will serve as chairman and CEO of the combined company.

“We are bringing NextEra Energy and Dominion Energy together because scale matters more than ever— not for the sake of size, but because scale translates into capital and operating efficiencies. It enables us to buy, build, finance and operate more efficiently, which translates into more affordable electricity for our customers in the long run,” Ketchum said in a statement.

The combined company will have dual headquarters in Juno Beach, Florida, and Richmond, Virginia. It will maintain Dominion Energy South Carolina’s operational headquarters in Cayce, South Carolina.

The business will retain the NextEra name and trade on the New York Stock Exchange under its “NEE” ticker. Its board will consist of 10 directors from NextEra and four from Dominion.

The deal, approved by both companies’ boards, is expected to close in 12 to 18 months, subject to shareholder approvals and regulatory clearance, including from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Shares of Dominion rose more than 9.6 percent in morning trading, while NextEra’s stock fell 5 percent.

The acquisition marks the latest in a wave of consolidation among U.S. power companies as data center expansion creates lucrative revenue opportunities.

This year, AES Corp agreed to be acquired by a consortium led by Global Infrastructure Partners and Swedish private-equity firm EQT AB for $33.4 billion. That followed Constellation Energy’s $16 billion deal with Calpine and Blackstone’s $11.5 billion deal for TXNM Energy last year.