Shareholders of NextEra Energy and Dominion Energy approved a $66.8 billion merger that will create the world's largest regulated electric utility, clearing a critical hurdle in a deal designed to capitalize on surging power demand from artificial intelligence data centers.

Both companies held special shareholder meetings on September 3, with each vote passing by wide margins according to regulatory filings. The all-stock transaction will create a utility giant with over $400 billion in enterprise value, combining NextEra's Florida operations with Dominion's strategic foothold in Northern Virginia's Data Center Alley.

The merger now enters the regulatory review phase, with approvals needed from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the Virginia State Corporation Commission, and several other state utility regulators. The companies expect the deal to close in the second half of 2027, assuming regulatory clearance.

Data Center Power Play

The strategic rationale behind the mega-merger is clear: Northern Virginia's Data Center Alley represents the world's largest concentration of hyperscale cloud facilities, and power demand is exploding as tech giants race to build AI infrastructure.

Through Dominion Energy Virginia, NextEra gains direct exposure to customers like Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud — companies that are ordering electrical capacity by the gigawatt to power GPU clusters training the next generation of AI models.

"This merger positions the combined company to meet the most significant growth in electricity demand we've seen in decades," said John Ketchum, NextEra's CEO who will lead the merged entity. "AI is reshaping the power landscape, and we're creating the utility best positioned to serve that demand."

Dominion's service territory includes not just data centers, but also the renewable energy infrastructure needed to power them sustainably. The company's offshore wind project off the Virginia coast is 81 percent complete, though its cost estimate has risen to $11.65 billion.

Virginia's Regulatory Crossroads

The merger put Virginia regulators in a politically charged position. Alexandria and other Northern Virginia jurisdictions have formally entered the review process, raising concerns about electric reliability, outage response, and rate impacts on residential customers.

Those concerns aren't hypothetical. Data centers already consume a disproportionate share of Virginia's grid capacity, and critics worry that prioritizing hyperscale customers could leave homeowners with higher bills and less reliable service during peak demand periods.

In a September 14 filing, NextEra and Dominion proposed a $1 billion-per-year Virginia supplier program designed to address some of those concerns, though details remain thin. The state's regulatory commission will hold multiple hearings before deciding whether to approve the transaction.

Virginia approved 100 percent of Dominion's 2025 rider request on July 29, a sign that regulators have been willing to greenlight cost increases tied to infrastructure investments. But a $66.8 billion merger that consolidates so much market power is a different matter entirely.

NextEra's Clean Energy Bet

NextEra Energy enters the merger as one of the renewable energy leaders in the U.S. utility sector. The company has invested billions in wind and solar projects across the country, positioning itself as the utility best aligned with corporate sustainability commitments.

That matters for tech giants like Microsoft and Google, which have pledged to run their data centers on 100 percent renewable energy. By combining Dominion's Virginia footprint with NextEra's renewable generation portfolio, the merged company can offer credible clean power solutions at scale.

The offshore wind project that Dominion is constructing off the Virginia coast will be a key asset. When complete, it will generate enough electricity to power hundreds of thousands of homes — or a handful of AI-scale data center campuses.

Regulatory Gauntlet Ahead

Shareholder approval was the easy part. Now comes the regulatory marathon.

FERC will review the merger's impact on wholesale power markets and grid reliability. State regulators in Virginia, Florida, and other jurisdictions where the companies operate will examine rate impacts, service quality commitments, and consumer protections.

Consumer advocacy groups have already signaled their opposition, arguing that the merger consolidates too much power in a single entity and reduces competitive pressure that keeps rates in check. Environmental groups are split — some support NextEra's renewable energy track record, while others worry about offshore wind project cost overruns.

Political dynamics could play a role as well. Virginia is a swing state, and electricity rates are a kitchen-table issue. If regulators sense public opposition, they may extract significant concessions before approving the deal — or block it outright.

The AI Power Surge

Regardless of regulatory uncertainty, one thing is clear: AI is rewriting the rules for electricity demand in the United States.

Tech companies spent years optimizing data center efficiency, squeezing more compute out of every watt. But training large language models and running inference at scale has reversed that trend. Power consumption per server rack has exploded, and utilities are scrambling to add capacity.

Northern Virginia's Data Center Alley sits at the epicenter of that surge. Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and Meta all have massive campuses in the region, and all are racing to expand. The combined NextEra-Dominion entity will be their primary electricity supplier.

If the merger clears regulatory review, it will reshape the American utility landscape — creating a powerhouse built for the AI era, for better or worse.