Senator 'concerned' Virginia SCC chair has not recused herself from NextEra-Dominion merger

RICHMOND, Va. — The chair of Virginia's State Corporation Commission worked as a senior attorney for NextEra Energy before taking her seat as the agency's top regulator — and she has yet to recuse herself from the pending merger case between NextEra and Dominion Energy.

Kelsey Bagot left NextEra in April 2024 and immediately joined SCC. She became the SCC Chair this February. She worked at NextEra from September 2022 to April 2024. It has now been nearly a month since Dominion and NextEra filed their merger application with the SCC, and Bagot has not stepped aside from the proceeding.

Virginia law requires commissioners to disclose any known facts that could raise questions about their impartiality. Nowhere in the SCC's case docket regarding the merger does it state Bagot's past employment with NextEra.

Virginia law also gives residents the right to petition the removal of a commissioner they believe cannot be impartial. On July 24, a Dominion Energy ratepayer filed a formal petition with the SCC to disqualify Bagot from the merger case, require public disclosure of her past employment, and halt all proceedings until the matter is resolved.

During her January 2024 confirmation interviews before the House Labor and Commerce Committee and the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee, Delegate Tony Wilt asked Bagot whether she could approach all energy issues with impartiality.

"I am positive and can commit to you I will not have a bend one way or another," Bagot said. "My role as a commissioner is to be open-minded, to build a robust record to make sure that I'm asking the right questions to develop that robust record, that I'm digging into the issues that I'm being tough but fair to everyone that's before me."

WATCH: Virginia governor Abigail Spanberger intervenes in $67B Dominion-NextEra merger

Senator Russet Perry said Bagot also promised she would recuse herself in matters involving her former employer during the confirmation process.

"She did make those promises to myself and other senators, and I think that's important because I think that's how she got onto — I'm certain that's how she got onto the commission," Perry said. "Without those assurances, I don't think she would be there."

SCC records show Bagot did recuse herself in April from a separate proceeding involving NextEra's MidAtlantic Resiliency Link Project, in which the company was requesting to build, own, and operate a 2.4-mile, 500-kilovolt transmission line in Frederick County. The filing states she "previously provided legal services to the MidAtlantic Resiliency Link Project in 2023."

Dominion Energy customer Laura Arnett said the situation is a clear problem.

"I think that's a direct conflict of interest," Arnett said. "Like, it's very obvious. I mean, like, if you left NextEra, which was this huge energy corporation, to go be the head of some other energy corporations, such as like the SCC, and now you're overseeing a merger of these two companies. I mean, come on, that's a direct conflict of interest."

Governor Abigail Spanberger weighed in on the matter but stopped short of calling for Bagot to recuse herself.

"At this point in time, I think I am relying on the professionalism and the deep experience that exists within the SCC commissioners," Spanberger said.

Perry pointed to judicial canons that set standards for judges as a framework for evaluating the situation.

"The canons say it's not whether she believes she has a conflict; it's about whether people can really trust whatever decision she makes in this case," Perry said. "And so I am concerned that a month has gone by, to your point, and she has not recused herself, but there is still time, I believe, for her to recuse herself, and I'm still hopeful that she will."

Perry said she will continue to call for Bagot's recusal. If Bagot were to step aside, it would leave two commissioners on the panel. If those two commissioners were to disagree, the case could reach a deadlock, potentially delaying any decision on the merger.

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