Dominion and Scana complete merger

03 January 2019

Dominion Energy announced yesterday completion of its merger with Scana Corporation, "benefiting customers and communities" in Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina.

The VC Summer plant in South Carolina is now part of Dominion's nuclear fleet (Image: Dominion Energy)

Richmond, Virginia-based Dominion and Cayce, South Carolina-based Scana first unveiled their agreement for a stock-for-stock merger on 3 January 2018, which included benefits to Scana's South Carolina Electric & Gas Company subsidiary (SCE&G) electricity customers to offset previous and future costs related to the VC Summer units 2 and 3 nuclear power plant project SCE&G abandoned in July 2017.

The combination expands Dominion Energy's operations in Georgia and the Carolinas, where the company had already operated an electric utility serving 120,000 customer accounts in northeastern North Carolina, a 1500-mile interstate pipeline principally in South Carolina, and nearly 1000 MWe of gas, hydro and solar generating capacity in all three states.

"Dominion Energy is pleased to add Scana's fast-growing, high-performing southeastern businesses to our 18-state footprint," Thomas Farrell, Dominion's  chairman, president and CEO, said. "Together, we are committed to providing safe, dependable, affordable and clean energy to the communities served by Scana and to maintaining its excellent record of reliability and customer service."

He added: "The addition of Scana makes geographic sense and aligns well with our core, regulated energy businesses. These are well-run regulated operations that we expect will help improve Dominion Energy's risk profile and growth outlook."

Jimmy Addison, Scana CEO, said the combination provides its businesses with the "scale and stability" to meet customers' energy needs in the years to come. He added: "I am particularly proud that despite the intense efforts that went into planning for the integration and attaining approval of the combination of the companies over the past year, employees across our three-state region maintained their focus on providing energy to our customers safely and reliably."

Addison will be retiring on 1 February. His successor is Rodney Blevins, who has been Dominion's senior vice president and chief information officer since 2014.

Scana Corporation will be a first-tier, wholly owned subsidiary of Dominion Energy. Its operating companies - including SCE&G, Public Service Company of North Carolina, and Scana Energy Marketing - and its services company will be managed by a new operating segment, the Southeast Energy Group. It is Dominion Energy's fourth operating segment, along with the Power Delivery, Power Generation and Gas Infrastructure Groups.

Researched and written by World Nuclear News