{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.markey.senate.gov/news/press-releases/senator-markey-urges-ferc-reject-nextera-dominion-energy-merger-over-antitrust-affordability-concerns", "Senator Markey Urges FERC Reject NextEra, Dominion Energy Merger Over Antitrust, Affordability Concerns", "2026-08-10", "2026", "2026-08", "Democrat", "Senate", "MA", "Edward J. Markey", "M000133", "www.markey.senate.gov", "markey", "https://www.markey.senate.gov/news/press-releases", "scraper", "Letter Text (PDF)\n\nWashington (August 10, 2026) - Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, today wrote to Laura Swett, Chairman of the Federal Regulatory Commission (FERC), urging the commission to reject NextEra Energy\u2019s proposed acquisition of Dominion Energy. The acquisition would form the world\u2019s largest regulated energy utility, creating serious antitrust concerns and threatening unreasonable rate increases for consumers who are already struggling with skyrocketing bills.\n\nFERC has a statutory duty to put public interest over corporate profits when evaluating mergers and acquisitions under Section 203 of the Federal Power Act. Consolidation can create massive energy companies that become too powerful to effectively regulate and often results in drastic cost-saving and revenue-generating measures like rate increases, delayed maintenance, and reduced reliability. NextEra\u2019s proposed acquisition of Dominion is particularly concerning and demands heightened FERC scrutiny because of its unprecedented scale and NextEra\u2019s history of profiteering, anti-competitive activities, lobbying, and political donations.\n\nIn the letter, Senator Markey wrote, \u201cCorporate consolidation is sweeping the energy sector, concentrating unprecedented market power in a shrinking number of companies and threatening to drive already-high electricity costs even higher. NextEra Energy\u2019s proposed acquisition of Dominion Energy may be the most consequential example yet.\u201d\n\nSenator Markey continued, \u201cFERC has a statutory obligation to ensure that consolidation in the energy sector serves the public interest, not corporate profits. It is impossible to see how this consolidation will not put the public interest at risk. As energy costs rise and market power becomes increasingly concentrated, FERC must use its authority to protect consumers from transactions that threaten competition, affordability, and reliability. It should do so here and deny the application.\u201d\n\nSenator Markey requested responses to the following questions by September 2, 2026:\n\nHow does FERC evaluate whether increasing consolidation in the energy sector, including the cumulative effects of successive mergers and acquisitions, is consistent with the public interest under Section 203 of the Federal Power Act?\n\nHow does FERC assess whether a proposed merger or acquisition could increase an energy company\u2019s market power or ability to raise rates or otherwise increase costs for consumers?\n\nTo what extent does FERC consider an acquiring company\u2019s prior conduct \u2014 including past rate increases, market manipulation or anti-competitive conduct, and violations of federal or state law \u2014 in determining whether a proposed transaction is consistent with the public interest?\n\nWhat steps does FERC take to assess the cumulative impact on competition and consumers when a company undertakes multiple acquisitions within a relatively short period?\n\nSince January 1, 2020, how many applications subject to FERC review under Section 203 has FERC (a) approved without conditions, (b) approved with conditions, and (c) rejected? For applications approved with conditions, please identify the conditions imposed.\n\nSenator Markey continues to lead the fight to protect American households from corporate profiteering and increasing energy costs. In November 2025, Senator Markey wrote to FERC urging the agency to prevent data centers from dramatically increasing energy costs for American families. Senator Markey then wrote to the National Association of Regulatory Utilities Commissioners (NARUC) in March 2026 to call for state energy regulators to protect ratepayers from data center-related cost hikes. One month later, Senator Markey released his Ratepayer Roadmap, a three-part plan to lower energy bills by directly cutting energy-related expenses for families, building more clean and affordable energy, and ending corporate price-spiking and profiteering.\n\n###", 1, "2026-08-11T05:54:29Z", "2026-08-11T05:56:25Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.markey.senate.gov/news/press-releases/senator-markey-urges-ferc-reject-nextera-dominion-energy-merger-over-antitrust-affordability-concerns"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.2050089426338673, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}