Dominion Energy’s potential acquisition by Florida-based NextEra Energy could mean big changes for Richmond. Here are three questions facing the city as the two companies pursue regulatory approval of the deal.

1. Does the acquisition signal future layoffs?

Dominion employs 5,433 people in the city, according to the Greater Richmond Partnership, making it the third largest employer in the city proper behind VCU Health and VCU. NextEra has promised 18 months of job protection for Dominion Energy employees after the deal closes.

Left unsaid is what employees can expect after 18 months as part of NextEra.

“Typically when two large companies combine, there is some duplication of administrative tasks and they normally find savings by reducing that kind of duplication,” said Bob Holsworth, a longtime political analyst. “It’s hard to imagine that some degree of consolidation won’t occur, whether that’s actually laying people off or through early retirements or leaving positions unfilled.”

On the flipside, there are no guarantees Dominion employees wouldn’t face future layoffs even without an acquisition on the horizon, said João-Pedro Ferreira, a regional economist at UVA’s Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service. 

“We are seeing AI automate all these customer service functions, and outsourcing,” he said.

For its part, a Dominion spokesman told Axios that the company expects “there to be good jobs for our talented teams across all the states we serve and wherever we have operations across the country.”

 2. What will Dominion’s downtown presence look like?

Dominion is also a major downtown land owner, between its new high rise, its riverfront offices across from Belle Isle and the large downtown parcel across from Kanawha Plaza where its former office tower once stood. NextEra and Dominion say they will maintain a dual headquarters in Richmond, but what that looks like remains to be seen.

When MeadWestvaco merged to become WestRock in 2015, it promised to maintain its executive offices in Richmond, where its name topped a riverfront building now occupied by CoStar. The company, now Smurfit WestRock after a second 2024 merger, has long since pulled out of downtown, listing primary offices in Illinois, Florida and Georgia.

Dominion, as the officially sanctioned monopoly energy provider for much of the state, is likely not in a position to leave in the same way a packaging manufacturer could, but if the company’s executive leadership is ultimately consolidated in Florida, it’s an open question how much of an interest the company will continue to take in the city, Holsworth said. That would be a big change from the company’s recent past under former CEO Tom Farrell, who built his life and career in Richmond and was at times involved in city affairs to the point of generating controversy.

In other ways, a NextEra takeover could bring more life back to downtown insofar as Dominion allows its employees to work remotely two days a week and NextEra’s job postings generally don’t offer that option. If the NextEra policy comes to Richmond, the company could actually end up needing more office space here.

Dominion originally planned to build a second office building downtown, but paused those plans during the pandemic. 

3. Will Dominion still be one of the city’s top charitable contributors?

It’s hard to count all the city amenities Dominion funding has helped pay for. The city’s performing arts center is named the Dominion Energy Center. The Altria Theater’s stage is named for Dominion. The Dominion Riverrock festival took place just last weekend.

The company reported more than $40 million worth of charitable contributions in 2025. NextEra and Dominion have pledged that in the short term, that number will go up if the acquisition is approved. The companies say they’ll increase giving by $10 million annually over the next five years.

Once again, what happens after that is anyone’s guess, but Holsworth noted that, as with concerns over downtown stewardship, it’s easy to imagine support dropping if the company’s center of gravity shifts toward NextEra’s home base in Florida. “People are going to want to know, where will the decision-making go?”

Ferreira sees it slightly differently, noting that the company could end up increasing donations in an effort to boost goodwill locally toward a new out-of-state owner. “We have seen companies overinvesting compared to what the home company was doing in the past because they were afraid of the image and PR aspects of the merger,” he said.

In either case, he argued that because Dominion is a state-regulated utility, Virginia is in the rare position of being able to directly dictate how Dominion acts going forward.

“There are rules that regulators can put in place regarding this,” he said.

Contact Reporter Ned Oliver at noliver@richmonder.org. Dominion Energy is a sponsor of The Richmonder but was not allowed to influence or review this story. Read our policies here.