Want to weigh in on the Dominion-NextEra merger? Here’s where public hearings will be held.

RICHMOND — Virginians who want a say on the proposed $67 billion merger between Dominion Energy and NextEra Energy will get three in-person chances — and several phone options — to testify before the State Corporation Commission, which is taking the unusual step of staging regional hearings for a case with statewide reach.

If approved by the necessary state and federal agencies, the deal would create the largest regulated utility in the country. That scale is why the SCC’s hearing plan is drawing attention well beyond utility watchers: ratepayers, local governments, clean-energy advocates, and business groups all have reasons to care who owns the wires and generating fleet that power much of Virginia.

The commission will collect public testimony at three in-person hearings. On Oct. 7 from 6 to 8 p.m., speakers can appear at Christopher Newport University’s Freeman Center (Gaines Theater), 1 University Place, Newport News. On Oct. 9 from 6 to 8 p.m., the venue shifts to the Fairfax County Government Center Board Auditorium, 12000 Government Center Parkway, Fairfax. On Nov. 5 from 2 to 5 p.m., the commission will hear from the public in the second-floor courtroom of the SCC building at 1300 E. Main Street in Richmond.

Members of the public do not have to register in advance for the in-person sessions. If people are still waiting when a hearing’s scheduled end time arrives, the hearing examiner will decide how to proceed, an SCC spokesperson said. The commission also expects three days of telephone testimony; details are posted on the SCC website, and the deadline to register for phone testimony is Nov. 2. Written comments are encouraged because of time limits, with a Nov. 9 deadline.

Regional hearings are atypical for a merger case. The SCC more often holds in-person sessions for infrastructure projects with a clear local footprint, such as transmission lines. Staging nights in Newport News and Fairfax, plus a Richmond courtroom afternoon, signals that commissioners expect interest from both the urban North and the Hampton Roads service territory — and that they want a broader public record than a Richmond-only process would produce.

The hearing calendar sits beside unresolved procedural fights that could reshape the case timeline and the evidence the commission considers. Attorney General Jay Jones has asked the SCC to reset the 180-day review clock after Dominion and NextEra amended their application in September. That amendment, Jones argues, laid out a new deal package that included expanding bill credits to four years and a promise to build a skyscraper in Richmond — changes substantial enough, in his view, to restart the statutory timer. The commission has not yet ruled on whether the review window moves back by roughly two months.

Clean Virginia, a clean-energy advocacy group, has also pressed the commission to treat NextEra’s alleged political activities and past attempts to acquire other utilities as relevant to the Virginia proceeding. Dominion’s lawyers countered that the SCC does not regulate political activity and dismissed the request as a “political spectacle.” That motion to compel likewise remains undecided.

For customers, the merger debate is ultimately about rates, reliability, and who answers when storms or data-center load strain the grid. Supporters of large utility combinations typically argue that scale brings capital, renewable buildout capacity, and operational expertise. Critics worry about market power, weaker local accountability, and whether promised bill credits or downtown development projects distract from core questions of generation costs and transmission planning. The public hearing record is where those arguments get sworn into the case file in speakers’ own words.

Practical advice for would-be witnesses is straightforward: show up early at the in-person sites, be prepared for the examiner to manage overflow if the room runs long, and do not assume a speech alone is enough — written comments filed by Nov. 9 can preserve detail that a two-minute turn at the microphone cannot. Phone registrants should watch the SCC site for exact days and times and hit the Nov. 2 signup cutoff.

The commission’s dual track — open microphones in three cities and concurrent motions on timing and evidence — means the next several weeks will shape both the politics and the paperwork of the Dominion-NextEra review. Whether the clock resets, and whether political-activity discovery becomes part of the record, could matter as much as any single night of public testimony. For now, the invitation to Virginians is clear: the SCC is listening in Newport News, Fairfax, and Richmond, and the docket remains open for those who put their views on paper before the November deadline.

Email Fairfax County Supervisors At:
Jeff McKay → chairman@fairfaxcounty.gov,
Kathy Smith (Sully District) sully@fairfaxcounty.gov,
Rachna Heizer (Braddock District) braddock@fairfaxcounty.gov,
James Bierman (Dranesville District) dranesville@fairfaxcounty.gov,
Rodney Lusk (Franconia District) franconia@fairfaxcounty.gov,
Walter Alcorn (Hunter Mill District) huntermill@fairfaxcounty.gov,
Andres Jimenez (Mason District) mason@fairfaxcounty.gov,
Daniel Storck (Mount Vernon District)  mtvernon@fairfaxcounty.gov,
Dalia Palchik (Providence District)  providence@fairfaxcounty.gov,
Pat Herrity (Springfield District) springfield@fairfaxcounty.gov,

 

Email Newport News City Council at:
Phillip Jones — mayorsoffice@nnva.gov,
Marcellus Harris — marcellus.harris@nnva.gov,
Curtis Bethany — curtis.bethany@nnva.gov,
Cleon Long — cleon.long@nnva.gov,
Robert Coleman — robert.coleman@nnva.gov,
Tina Vick — tina.vick@nnva.gov,
John Eley — john.eley@nnva.gov,

Email Jay Jones at:

Jay Jones: RPickett@oag.state.va.us,