Perry urges Bagot to recuse from NextEra-Dominion deal
Get the Geopolitics newsletter
Daily geopolitics — wars, elections, sanctions, the diplomatic moves that move markets. Free.
- Sen. Russet Perry (D-Va.) urged SCC Chair Kelsey Bagot to recuse from the review of NextEra's proposed merger with Dominion, citing Bagot's past work as a NextEra attorney and prior assurances to the General Assembly that she would recuse from former-employer matters.
- SCC Chair Kelsey Bagot had already recused from a separate NextEra proposal (the MidAtlantic Resiliency Link Project) in an April 9 notice, citing legal services she provided to that project in 2023.
- SCC spokesman Greg Weatherford declined to comment on Bagot's potential involvement, calling it "speculative" since "no application has been filed," but noted the commission is "aware of public interest in this proposal."
- The proposed NextEra-Dominion merger would create the world's largest regulated utility, with a 130-GW large load pipeline anchored in Loudoun County's "Data Center Alley," where data center growth drove Virginia's commercial electricity sales up nearly 30 million MWh from 2019 to 2025, per a May EIA report.
- Perry also opposes the merger on substance, calling it "extremely concerning" amid "rising utility bills and unprecedented grid expansion costs driven largely by hyperscale data center growth."
Why it matters: The recusal question is the gating procedural hurdle for what would be the world's largest regulated utility merger, and Bagot's prior NextEra ties give Perry a concrete conflict-of-interest hook — one the SCC has already accepted once in its April 9 MidAtlantic notice. A recusal would reshape the three-member commission's review before any substantive argument is heard.
Ask SkimNews
