New England Nuclear Consolidation
NextEra-Dominion Merger Poised to Control All New England Nuclear Power
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NextEra Energy and Dominion Energy announced a $66.8 billion all-stock merger on May 18, 2026, a deal that would hand a single company control over all of New England's nuclear power Newsday. If approved, the combined entity would own both the Millstone plant in Connecticut and the Seabrook station in New Hampshire — together supplying roughly 25% of the region's total electricity and 50% of its carbon-free power Newsday.
The merger won't close until late 2027 or early 2028, pending federal and state approvals World Nuclear News. That timeline matters: Connecticut is expected to announce winning bids for long-term nuclear power contracts in late 2026 — before the deal is done, meaning both companies must still compete as separate bidders for now CT Mirror.
One Company Would Own All of New England's Nuclear Output
Today, NextEra owns Seabrook in New Hampshire and Dominion owns Millstone in Connecticut. They are separate companies that can bid against each other for state energy contracts. After the merger, that competition disappears entirely. A single parent company would control 100% of the nuclear electricity generated in New England — a level of market concentration that has alarmed state regulators and energy analysts S&P Global.
Bill Quinlan, president of transmission at regional utility Eversource Energy, questioned whether the merger would result in "tying up" all of New England's nuclear output under one roof Newsday. Connecticut's Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) said it is monitoring the deal and will "assess what, if any, implications the merger could have for ongoing proceedings," according to spokesman Will Healey CT Mirror.
States Rush to Lock In Contracts Before the Deal Closes
Connecticut passed a law in 2024 requiring the state to team up with at least two other New England states before signing new nuclear power contracts CT Mirror. The goal was to avoid a repeat of 2019, when Connecticut acted alone to rescue Millstone with a state-backed deal. That regional procurement process is now underway — and the winning bids are expected before the merger closes CT Mirror.
That timing creates a narrow window. Until the transaction is complete, Millstone and Seabrook can each negotiate their own long-term contracts with utilities in Connecticut and other states Newsday. But contracts signed after 2029 — when the current deals expire — will almost certainly involve a single, much more powerful counterparty Newsday. That shift in leverage concerns ratepayer advocates who worry the new NextEra could command higher prices with no nuclear competition to push back against.
New England Governors Back Nuclear, But Merger Tests That Unity
On March 31, 2026 — just weeks before the merger announcement — all six New England governors signed a rare joint statement pledging to preserve existing nuclear plants and explore advanced nuclear technologies Office of Gov. Ned Lamont. The unified front signaled strong political support for keeping Millstone and Seabrook running well into the 2030s.
But supporting nuclear and welcoming a monopoly are two different things. NextEra CEO John Ketchum frames the deal as necessary to meet "surging demand" from AI data centers World Nuclear News. Critics aren't convinced. Brennan Gilmore of Clean Virginia has called for "the most rigorous scrutiny possible," citing NextEra's "troubling track record" in other states Utility Dive. The six-state nuclear bloc may soon face a harder question: how much leverage are they willing to give up to keep the lights on?
Workers at Millstone Fear the NextEra Playbook
When NextEra (then called FPL Group) bought the Seabrook plant in 2002 for $836.6 million, it cut hundreds of jobs over the following decade by centralizing operations Newsday. Workers at Millstone are watching that history closely. Reports from inside the industry describe Dominion employees at Millstone as "concerned about how lean NextEra nuclear appears to be," with fears that engineering and design roles would be moved to Florida Reddit/NuclearPower.
The $66.8 billion deal includes $2.25 billion in bill credits for customers in Virginia and the Carolinas — states where Dominion runs a regulated retail utility NextEra-Dominion PR. New England ratepayers get no such direct benefit. NextEra does not operate a regulated retail utility in Connecticut or New Hampshire, so any savings from the merger would not automatically flow back to customers in the region Newsday.
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