NextEra in $66 Billion Talks to Acquire Dominion Energy — Largest Power Deal Ever, Fueled by AI Data Center Demand

NextEra Energy (NEE) is in talks to acquire Dominion Energy (D) at roughly $76 per share, valuing the deal at approximately $66 billion — by far the largest power deal on record, according to Bloomberg. The transaction could be announced as soon as Monday, May 18, with AI data center electricity demand as the primary strategic driver.

The deal would be structured primarily as a stock exchange — roughly 0.8 NextEra shares per Dominion share — with a small cash component. At $66 billion, the transaction would dwarf every prior utility merger in history, representing a step-change in the scale at which electricity infrastructure is being consolidated.

The AI Electricity Boom Is Driving Utility M&A

Dominion Energy serves approximately 7.5 million customers across Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Ohio. Its most strategically valuable territory is Northern Virginia — the world's largest concentration of data centers, home to Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google, and Meta. Electricity demand in this corridor is growing 20–30% annually as AI model training and inference workloads scale.

NextEra is the world's largest utility by market capitalization and the largest operator of wind and solar assets in the United States. Its Florida Power & Light (FPL) subsidiary anchors its regulated utility business, while NextEra Energy Resources houses its renewable development pipeline. Combining NextEra's clean energy development and financing scale with Dominion's high-growth service territory creates a natural platform for supplying long-term clean power to AI infrastructure.

Supplying reliable, clean electricity to AI infrastructure has become the defining challenge for 21st-century utilities. This deal is the most direct response to that demand.

Industry analyst observation

Deal Structure and Scale

• Acquirer: NextEra Energy (NYSE: NEE)
• Target: Dominion Energy (NYSE: D)
• Offer price: approximately $76 per Dominion share
• Total deal value: approximately $66 billion
• Structure: mostly stock (~0.8 NEE shares per D share) plus small cash component
• Expected announcement: as soon as Monday, May 18, 2026
• Record: largest power sector M&A transaction in history

Regulatory Path — FERC and State Approvals Required

A utility merger of this scale requires Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approval plus sign-off from utility commissions in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Ohio. DOJ antitrust review is also likely. Large utility mergers typically take 12 to 24 months to clear the regulatory process.

NextEra has pursued large utility acquisitions before — and has been blocked. The company attempted to acquire a major utility operator in 2016 before withdrawing due to regulatory concerns. That history means regulatory risk remains a central variable in how the market prices this announcement.

What the Combined Entity Looks Like

A completed NextEra-Dominion merger would create the largest electric utility in the United States. The combination of renewable energy development capability with a high-growth service territory — anchored by the nation's largest data center cluster — builds a business model that addresses both clean energy mandates and the AI power surge simultaneously.

Dominion has spent recent years selling non-core assets (including its gas distribution business) to focus on its regulated electric utility operations. NextEra's capital depth and renewable project pipeline would accelerate large-scale clean power deployment across Dominion's territory, particularly in Virginia where data center demand is growing fastest.