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On CNBC’s “Squawk Box” this morning, Gov. Abigail Spanberger “outline[d] why she’s participating in the regulatory review of the proposed merger of [NextEra] and [Dominion Energy].” See below for video and highlights.
- Gov. Abigail Spanberger: “What I have taken action um on here in Virginia is as the SCC, Virginia’s State Corporation Commission, reviews the proposed merger of Virginia’s Dominion Energy with Florida’s NextEra, it is extraordinarily important that the people of Virginia, our small
businesses, our community members have a voice in this process. And so that’s why I’ve taken the legal step of intervening in this case and that will ensure that I’m a party to the case and that I can raise questions, that I can bring priorities forward and frankly be a part of the discussion as the SCC moves through the case, reviewing the case, ultimately making a decision. To be clear, I’m not trying to dictate the decision, but I do want to ensure that the things I know are most important – affordability of our electric bills, Virginia jobs, and our energy future here in the Commonwealth – are top priorities in the overall review. And how this fits into any larger trends that I can’t necessarily speak to. But I will say that here in the Commonwealth for a merger this size, wholly unprecedented in Virginia’s history, it is important that Virginians know that there is someone advocating for their priorities throughout the entirety of the process. So in an unprecedented circumstance of an unprecedented style merger, that’s why I’m taking this step…I think it’s certainly part of the equation in part because data centers are present across the Commonwealth of Virginia. Certainly they’re utility users. But I think more importantly is the fact that over the past couple years as we have seen energy bills continue to rise in the Commonwealth of Virginia, it’s something that legislatively I have been working on. Every bill related to lowering the cost of energy that I had as a governor’s bill passed through the General Assembly, I signed them into law. You know, bills meant to really complement and work in concert to address real needs of so many Virginians. But the reality is there are so many unknowns when a Florida-based company is going to come in buy a Virginia-based company, our largest energy provider, a state-regulated monopoly here in the Commonwealth of Virginia. And I want to ensure that there are real clear guarantees…”
- Gov. Abigail Spanberger: “Frankly, as the SCC is reviewing this, their mandate is to balance the needs of businesses and customers and citizens. And I want to ensure that if there is to be financial benefit for these two companies to their shareholders, then there must also be financial benefit, clear benefit to the people of Virginia, the citizens and ratepayers…I think that Virginia has been, will continue to be a national leader in the requirements that we are putting on data centers that wish to come to the Commonwealth. And ideally, we can set a national standard for our expectations of any large business that comes to a community what it is that they’re bringing to bear. Certainly so many of our communities have required community benefits agreements and there are quite a few, whether it’s conservation programs, funding to schools and localities, where we have seen localities put certain requirements in place or make certain requests of those large investors, in this case particularly data centers. But importantly, part of the larger conversation that certainly exists in Virginia and elsewhere relates to energy consumption and energy-related infrastructure. It’s why Virginia created the first of its kind energy consumption tax. Again, demonstrating national leadership on how it is that we can ensure that data centers pay their fair share. Importantly, I pushed for the SCC and through the comments process and ultimately the SCC ruled that for transmission allocation costs, those costs will go to the data centers, not to local ratepayers in a particular region. If there are new transmission infrastructure needs because of data centers coming to a particular area, the costs of that construction, that infrastructure needs to be borne by those data centers. Importantly, in legislation I signed just at the end of June as well, we put certain parameters in place related to noise pollution and water-related technology. And there’s much more to do, because in this broader conversation, I intend to ensure that Virginia continues in our position of leadership because we can set a high nationwide standard for the expectation that we have for any large energy user, any large investor that wants to come to a community, ensuring that our local communities know what they can ask for, know what standards they should be setting, but importantly ensuring that the state is doing so as well at a statewide level and ideally setting an example for the rest of the nation.”
- Gov. Abigail Spanberger: “I think when you’re evaluating any type of investment coming to one state, it is important to recognize the the potential investments in terms of jobs brought dollars brought to a community. But also what it is that you might be giving up and then what sort of standards can be set. And so certainly we see, increasingly, local Virginia communities that really truly recognize that they can ask for so much in terms of job guarantees and we’re doing that you know, frankly, at the state level in order to be a part of that process the jobs that we expect the investments that we expect. But frankly there’s more that can be done into the future in standard setting. We’ve taken initial steps as as it relates to requirements related to water-related technologies. This is a space where technology evolves very very quickly and I want to ensure that anyone, frankly whether it’s a data center or manufacturing plant, coming to Virginia intends to use the highest and best-in-class technology to preserve, conserve our natural resources and demonstrate clear respect for the communities that have welcomed them.”
