We, the Stop NextEra SC Coalition and the undersigned organizations and customers formally express our opposition to the proposed $67 billion acquisition of Dominion Energy by Florida-based NextEra Energy. If approved, this merger will create the largest private, regulated electric utility in the country, and will continue to place immense power in another out-of-state parent company with horrible business practices and a bad track record on customer costs.  

If approved, NextEra Energy would create a massive takeover of energy in the Southeast, which will create less competition and lead to higher energy rates for consumers and exacerbate the issues around data centers. This is the second time NextEra has tried to make a power play on South Carolina's energy. In 2018, NextEra offered to purchase SCANA after the failed VC Summer Nuclear expansion. NextEra withdrew their offer after bipartisan lawmakers voted to investigate the company’s lobbying efforts.   

NextEra announced this takeover effort just after Dominion was allowed to raise its rates and right after Dominion was allowed to start building a $5 billion gas plant in Colleton County, and just after the legislative session would usually have ended. 

NextEra has a track record for bad business practices from allegedly spying on journalists in Florida and allegedly running a ghost-candidate to fool Florida voters that led to a senator losing his seat. On top of the business practices, NextEra’s Florida Power & Light (FPL) disconnected customer power over 1.2 million times in 2024, secured a multi-billion dollar rate plan yielding a 10.95% return on equity, and delivered multi-billion dollar profits for parent company NextEra Energy while compensating its CEO near $25 million 

This proposed acquisition only stands to worsen growing energy rates, heighten risks related to data centers and create one of the nation’s most powerful monopolies. We cannot allow NextEra to do business in South Carolina and we cannot create a mega-monopoly. We ask the Public Service Commission and state legislators to deny the merger between NextEra and Dominion and protect the state from facing an avoidable disaster.