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(Bloomberg) — NextEra Energy Inc. agreed to pay about $67 billion in stock for Dominion Energy Inc. in the biggest power acquisition ever, creating a giant utility extending from Florida to the data centers clustered in Virginia.
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The deal, announced Monday, would position NextEra as a dominant utility across a stretch of the US that’s struggling to meet the surge in electricity demand from newly built artificial intelligence facilities. NextEra said in a statement it will pay the equivalent of $75.98 per share for Dominion, which provides utility services to Virginia and the Carolinas.
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The scope of the deal underscores how the spike in AI-driven power demand is pushing the industry to seek ever-greater size and clout. NextEra is already the largest US utility by market value and the country’s biggest renewables developer.
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“NextEra Energy was built for this moment of extraordinary growth,” Chief Executive Officer John Ketchum said on an earnings call last month.
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But the company will first need to win over government regulators focused on taming the surge in household bills caused by power-thirsty AI facilities.
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The US grid security regulator, the North American Electric Reliability Corp., has projected that the country’s summer power demand will rise 224 gigawatts over the next decade, a staggering jump that’s equivalent to adding about 180 million homes.
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Dominion serves 3.6 million homes and businesses in Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina. It also provides natural gas to 500,000 customers in South Carolina. The company’s Virginian territory is part of PJM Interconnection, the biggest US grid that stretches from Washington DC to Chicago.
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Florida-based NextEra’s shares have risen 16% this year, giving it a market value of $195 billion as of Friday’s close. Dominion, meanwhile, is worth $54 billion after a 5.4% increase.
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The deal will “likely face a significant amount of regulatory scrutiny,” Nicholas Amicucci, an analyst at Evercore ISI, said in a research note on Sunday. That’s likely to come from state bodies, as well as the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the Justice Department, he said.
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In 2020, NextEra made an unsuccessful bid for Duke Energy Corp., in what could have been the largest utility deal in US history at the time.
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—With assistance from Michael Hytha.
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