NextEra wants to buy Dominion Energy for $67 billion, the largest utility merger in U.S. history. The State Corporation Commission is deciding whether to approve it, and public input is part of that process.

After pressure from this coalition, the SCC has granted three in-person hearings on top of the phone sessions already scheduled. One is set for November 5th in Richmond. The other two locations haven't been announced yet. We thank the SCC for that responsiveness.

But three hearings isn't enough to cover a service territory this vast. Dominion's territory spans the Shenandoah and Roanoke valleys, Southside, Northern Virginia, Central Virginia, and Hampton Roads. A hearing in Richmond doesn't put anyone in most of that territory within a reasonable drive, and two more, wherever they end up, still leave most of the state without a hearing anywhere nearby.

We'd be remiss if we didn't keep advocating for Dominion customers across the state who still don't know if a hearing is coming anywhere near them. The SCC needs to hold more than three hearings to actually reach a territory this size.

This isn't about whether the merger should be approved. It's about making sure the access the SCC just opened up actually reaches the people it's supposed to serve.