The largest-ever acquisition in the power industry faces regulatory obstacles! The Governor of Virginia will step in to mediate the merger between NextEra Energy (NEE.US) and Dominion Energy (D.US).

According to reports from Zhihu Finance APP, Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger is set to intervene in the merger deal between NextEra Energy (NEE.US) and Dominion Energy (D.US), further increasing uncertainty for what could become the largest acquisition in the history of the electricity industry.

In a commentary published Thursday, Spanberger said she will initiate legal proceedings to intervene in the proposed merger, formally applying to become a party to the case. The Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) will review the application and has the final approval authority.

In May of this year, NextEra Energy announced a $67 billion acquisition of its competitor, Dominion Energy. The merger would create a utility giant with operations extending from Florida to Virginia’s dense cluster of data centers—NextEra Energy would secure vast electricity assets across Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, positioning itself as the dominant utility in a region striving to meet surging demand for new artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure.

The North American Electric Reliability Corporation—the US electric grid security regulator—predicts that over the next decade, US summer electricity demand will rise by 224 GW, a staggering leap equivalent to the consumption of about 180 million households. Thus, over the next five years, US utility companies and grid operators are expected to invest more than $1.1 trillion in new power generation and transmission projects. This wave of spending is intensifying the pressure on companies to scale up and strengthen their finances—even for NextEra Energy, the largest US utility by market capitalization and the largest renewable energy developer. Executives from NextEra Energy and Dominion Energy say the merger will create a company better equipped to build and deploy energy projects, while lowering overall costs.

However, the proposed merger has drawn criticism from some politicians and regulators, who are concerned the deal will further increase already sharply rising residential electricity bills.

This intervention by Spanberger marks, according to her office, the first time a Virginia Governor has taken such action, further increasing the risk facing completion of the deal. Spanberger wrote in her article: “I know it is unprecedented for a Virginia Governor to take such an action—but equally unprecedented is the scale of this proposed merger and the potential impact it may have on the public.” She added: “Virginia residents have the right to know that their leaders are paying close attention to ensure that residents' needs become part of the State Corporation Commission’s review process.”