Arlington County and the City of Alexandria are teaming up on proceedings related to a massive proposed merger involving Dominion Energy.
The county announced plans earlier this month to intervene in NextEra Energy’s bid to acquire Dominion for $67 billion, an energy merger that the county says would be the largest in U.S. history. Today (Monday), officials announced that Arlington’s legal efforts will be in partnership with its next-door neighbor.
Two flashes of light and loud booms were seen and heard across Northern Virginia last night (Thursday), including in parts of Arlington.
Home surveillance video shared with ARLnow by a local resident captured the flashes and booms just before 9:30 p.m.
At least 3,000 homes and businesses lost power this morning after a large tree fell across wires in the Arlington Ridge neighborhood.
It happened just before 10:45 a.m., along the 2800 block of S. Arlington Ridge Road.
Thousands of Arlington residents remain without power this afternoon (Friday) after a storm swept through the county last night, pummeling trees and power lines.
Almost 4,000 Dominion Energy customers remained without power as of 3:30 p.m., some of whom may not see power restored until around midnight or later, spokesperson Aisha Khan told ARLnow.
Arlington is becoming a formal party to Virginia’s review of the proposed $67 billion merger between Dominion Energy and NextEra Energy.
The County Board voted at a special meeting yesterday (Wednesday) to file a notice of participation as a respondent in the State Corporation Commission case, letting the county represent Arlington’s interests directly as the deal moves through regulatory review, according to a county press release.
Several northern Arlington neighborhoods lost power late Wednesday morning after a tree fell.
The tree fell across power and other utility lines shortly before 11 a.m., on Little Falls Road near the intersection with N. George Mason Drive, according to scanner traffic.
Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) is throwing support behind legislation intended to address the impacts of data centers on rising prices of electricity for Virginia residents.
The Power for the People Act, which Warner is co-sponsoring, aims to address cost and reliability issues associated with data centers’ power needs. The legislation directs states to look into new rate classes for data centers, seeks a new Federal Energy Regulatory Commission rule to ensure data centers are paying for infrastructure upgrades that would not be otherwise needed, and seeks to increase accountability in local electricity infrastructure.
A proposed merger between Dominion Energy and NextEra Energy raises new possibilities and further questions in the race to match Virginia’s booming energy demand.
NextEra, which seeks to create the world’s largest regulated electric utility business through the $67 billion acquisition, has framed the plan as a path toward reducing energy costs in an era of rising need, driven in part by the construction of new data centers to power AI.
NextEra Energy is seeking to acquire Dominion Energy in an all-stock deal valued at about $67 billion, creating a massive power company as the energy needs of artificial intelligence drive demand higher in the U.S.
It is one of the biggest proposed mergers so far this year and would create the world’s biggest regulated electric utility business by market capitalization, the companies said on Monday.
County Board members have approved new rooftop solar panels at four more county buildings, including Central Library.
Collectively, the installations are anticipated to save the county government about $850,000 in utility costs over a 25-year period.
High-than-usual electric bills in Virginia this winter have prompted discussion about the role data centers could play in driving up costs.
Dominion Energy, the commonwealth’s largest electric utility company, has said that new rates in 2026 and unusually cold weather could be responsible for many customers’ higher bills.
Increasing power demand from a growing number of data centers, many located in Northern Virginia, has made rising utility costs a key issue for Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D) in her first days in office.
In her first address to the Virginia General Assembly yesterday (Monday), Spanberger outlined her Affordable Virginia Agenda, a set of proposals addressing energy, health care and housing costs. Spanberger also issued an executive order on her first day in office that directs her cabinet members and agencies to identify policy changes that would reduce costs for Virginians in energy and other areas.
