The proposed merger between NextEra Energy and Dominion Energy should raise serious concerns for regulators, policymakers, and consumer advocates about rising electricity costs, monopoly power, and the growing influence of private, for-profit utilities in the AI economy.

If approved, the transaction would create what the companies themselves describe as the largest utility in America. The combined company would serve roughly 10 million customer accounts and control approximately 110 gigawatts of generation capacity, nearly four times Virginia’s entire existing generation fleet.

At a time when electricity affordability is becoming a major political and economic issue, this merger threatens to deepen many of the structural problems already plaguing the utility sector.