A group of solar and storage industry members operating as the Storage and Clean Energy Coalition (SCEC) has filed testimony opposing the proposed merger of utilities Dominion Energy and NextEra Energy, arguing that the combination would damage the competitive landscape in Virginia.
In the filing, the coalition states that there is "no doubt that the proposed merger poses an unacceptable risk to the competitive landscape in Virginia," and concludes that it opposes the merger as filed.
SCEC said its central concern is how the transaction could affect the spread of renewable energy in the state. The group wrote that the utilities are "entirely silent on competition in the procurement of generation resources, competition in the form of distributed energy resources, or competition to provide non-wire alternatives to traditional utility infrastructure investment."
Interconnection reform sought as a merger condition
A large share of the testimony addresses grid connection. SCEC claims that the long interconnection queues seen at both utilities would worsen if the two were combined. The coalition is asking for the utilities to adopt interconnection automation tools for residential and small commercial projects, and to permit meter socket adapters, which the group says can prevent main service panel upgrades and thus speed the process.
Lindsey Hallock, interconnection policy director at Permit Power, an SCEC member, disputed the applicants' account of the deal's competitive effects. "Dominion and NextEra told regulators this merger won't affect competition," Hallock said. "That's not true for a Virginia family trying to bring down their bills by generating and storing their own electricity at home." Hallock said both utilities maintain policies that make connecting home solar and batteries to the grid time-consuming and expensive, and urged 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.
Coalition points to NextEra's Florida record
The testimony also questions NextEra's competitive conduct, stating that there are "numerous examples of NextEra exercising its political influence to extract concessions or implement policies that favor it over competition." SCEC singled out what it described as one of the most infamous examples: NextEra's role, through its Florida Power & Light Company utility, 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.
The filing places distributed generation and procurement competition before regulators as they review the proposed combination, alongside the utilities' position that the merger will not affect competition — a claim the coalition's testimony directly contests.