Renewable Energy

Storage and Clean Energy Coalition files testimony opposing Dominion–NextEra merger

The coalition argues the utility combination would weaken competition in Virginia and asks the commission to condition the merger on interconnection reforms for home solar and batteries.

Tamsin OkaforOctober 20, 20265 min read9 views

Two abstract utility towers merge above a neighborhood of homes with rooftop solar panels, battery units and a line of houses waiting along power lines.

The Storage and Clean Energy Coalition, a group of solar and storage industry members, has filed testimony opposing the proposed merger of utilities Dominion Energy and NextEra Energy.

In its testimony, the coalition writes that the transaction "poses an unacceptable risk to the competitive landscape in Virginia" and says it opposes the merger as filed. SCEC said it is concerned the combination could affect the spread of renewable energy in Virginia and raised questions about energy competition in the state.

The group also wrote that the utilities are "entirely silent" on competition in the procurement of generation resources, competition in the form of distributed energy resources, and competition to provide non-wire alternatives to traditional utility infrastructure investment.

Lindsey Hallock, interconnection policy director at Permit Power, an SCEC member, disputed the utilities' position that the merger would not affect competition. She said that claim does not hold for a Virginia family trying to lower its bills by generating and storing its own electricity at home, arguing that Dominion and NextEra policies make connecting home solar and batteries to the grid time-consuming and expensive. Hallock called on the commission to mandate interconnection reform as a condition of the merger, including requirements to automate the interconnection process and to authorize meter socket adapters that reduce the cost of home solar and battery systems.

SCEC claims that long interconnection queues at both utilities would worsen if the two merged. The coalition is asking the utilities to implement interconnection automation tools for residential and small commercial projects and to permit meter sockets, which can prevent main service panel upgrades, in order to speed the process.

The testimony also cites examples of what SCEC describes as NextEra using political influence to extract concessions or implement policies that favor it over competitors. It points to NextEra's Florida Power & Light utility and its role in influencing legislation that would have substantially reduced rooftop solar compensation for residential customers at a time when a very small percentage of households had rooftop solar.