The North Carolina Utilities Commission has approved for the proposed 14.6bn merger of Dominion Energy and SCANA.
Image: Dominion Energy and SACANA corporation merger deal. Photo: courtesy of rawpixel on Unsplash.
The approval is the sixth out of seven necessary approvals that are required for the successful closure of merger.
The proposed merger has already received approvals from SCANA’s shareholders, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the Georgia Public Service Commission, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Dominion Energy chairman, president and CEO Thomas Farrell, II said: “We are pleased by the FERC’s considered and timely action.
“It brings us closer to providing a brighter energy future for customers, communities and others served by the SCANA companies. We will continue working toward achieving the other required regulatory pprovals and completing our transaction by the end of this year.”
The Federal Trade Commission has issued an early termination of 30-day waiting period for the merger under the federal Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act.
The deal now requires an approval from the Public Service Commission of South Carolina. The commission, which is continuing the evidential hearings since early November, is expected to take a decision on the merger by 21st December this year.
If the merger is closed as expected by the end of the year, the combined company is anticipated to cater energy to approximately 6.5 million regulated customers across 18 states.
It will have an electric generating range of about 33,000MW and 93,600miles(150,634km) of electric transmission and distribution lines It also would have a natural gas pipeline network totaling 106,400miles (171,234km) and operate one of the nation’s largest natural gas storage systems with 1 trillion cubic feet of capacity.
The merger deal was announced in January this year. Under the terms of the deal, SCANA shareholders will receive 0.6690 shares of Dominion Energy common stock for each share held.
As part of the merger agreement, Dominion Energy has agreed to write-offf existing VC, Summer 2 and 3 capital and certain regulatory assets worth over $1.7bn, which would reduce the customer costs.
Following the completion of the deal, SCANA would operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Dominion Energy.