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Maine Governor Opposes NextEra's Proposed Dominion Acquisition Over Competition Concerns

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Maine Governor Janet Mills on Wednesday joined other New England officials in raising concerns about NextEra Energy's (NEE) proposed acquisition of Dominion Energy (D), saying the deal would concentrate too many power generation and transmission assets under one company and could limit competition.

Mills said the transaction would give NextEra control of several critical energy-generating assets in New England and make it more difficult to reduce electricity costs.

"NextEra's proposal to acquire Dominion Energy would concentrate too many energy generation and transmission assets in a company that has worked aggressively to suppress competition in Maine and block state priorities that would reduce energy costs," Mills said.

"This ill-advised proposal would give one company sole control of several critical energy generating assets in New England, further limit competition, and make it harder to bring energy costs down. This deal may be good for NextEra's shareholders, but it's a bad deal for Maine people," she said.

Mills' statement followed a joint statement issued Wednesday by the New England States Committee on Electricity, or NESCOE, urging the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the US Department of Justice and other regulators reviewing the proposed merger to apply "the highest level of scrutiny."

If approved, the transaction would create the largest electric utility in the US.

NESCOE is a regional state committee recognized by FERC and governed by a board appointed by the governors of Maine, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont.

The proposed deal has drawn scrutiny from officials outside New England as well. Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger said in August that she would intervene in the regulatory review to seek commitments from the companies on electric-bill affordability, job protections and clean-energy investments.

The $66.8 billion deal, announced in May, would create the third-largest US energy company, behind oil majors Exxon and Chevron, with an enterprise value greater than the combined enterprise value of the next two-largest US power companies, Reuters said.

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