The deal: If approved by regulators, this $67B merger would create the world’s biggest regulated electric utility (and one of the largest energy infrastructure companies). NextEra CEO John Ketchum called the all-stock deal a “no-brainer” amid unprecedented US energy demand.

The details: The utility giant is set to own 110 GW of energy and serve some 10M customers spanning FL, VA, NC, and SC (ratepayers in most of these states could receive $2.25 billion in bill credits). Its total large load pipeline would tally >130 GW, including Dominion’s prospects in the VA “data center alley.” 

This mammoth merger is a prime example of gen-tailing, or combining power generation and retail under one umbrella. (See also: Tesla Electric in Texas.) “It's going to be interesting to see how the state regulators feel about these entities effectively cornering the market on both the generation of clean power, moving the power on its own transmission lines, and captive retail delivery,” Luminary Strategies founder Arushi Sharma Frank told Energy Central in an email.

The industry impacts? This deal signifies a “retreat from relying solely on competitive, deregulated markets,” Sharma Frank said, and it’s possible that similar (albeit smaller-scale) moves follow. 🔮

Dominion has a firm hold over the country’s biggest data center hotspot. What it sorely needs? Enough storage to bring these massive new facilities online quickly. Luckily, NextEra has plenty: over 3 GW of battery storage in operation, and a target of up to 43 GW by 2032.

Now that’s some serious synergy. Energy entrepreneur Jigar Shah put it this way: NextEra is “buying the keys to America's data center capital,” he wrote on LinkedIn.

Deliveries are expected to kick off in 2028, with EDF able to procure up to 4 GWh/year of Ford Energy’s DC Block. This 20-ft containerized system will come in two-hour and four-hour configurations, aimed at utilities, data centers, and large C&I customers.

Why it matters: Ford is betting its manufacturing muscle can translate from EVs to grid storage, with plans to invest roughly $2B over the next two years—and reach a 20 GWh yearly deployment target.

The Data Center Coalition-funded E3 whitepaper claims that plenty of factors influence electric rates, from inflation to grid modernization—but acknowledges that hyperscalers play a role, which varies by region. 

Worth remembering from yesterday: PJM wholesale power costs surged 76% in Q1. The E3 report notes that regional load growth (including data centers) contributed around half of the rising costs in recent PJM capacity auctions. The other drivers? Power plant retirements, market design shifts, and “other supply-side factors.”

The agency has faced several legal challenges over its orders to keep aging fossil fuel plants online—now, one has made it to the oral argument stage for the first time. 

What happened: Lawyers representing states and public interest groups told the D.C. Circuit that the DOE overstepped when ordering a Michigan Consumers Energy coal plant to keep running past its planned May ‘25 retirement. The DOE’s response? MISO is facing a grid emergency.

Why it matters: A ruling in the case (expected later this year) could shape fights over five other DOE orders keeping plants online. And if the losing side in this case appeals—a likely outcome—it could head to the US Supreme Court.

PECO has signed at least two transmission security agreements with planned PA data centers. These require developers to put up 10-year letters of credit so PECO can recover transmission upgrade costs if the projects shrink, stall, or evaporate. ComEd and Exelon have also announced TSAs with data center developers over the past year.

The catch: PECO’s TSAs only cover long-distance transmission upgrades. They don’t shield customers from rising supply and capacity costs across PJM. 

As Base Power Company’s Travis Kavulla put it, TSAs can be “divorced from the actual incremental costs to serve data centers.” Instead, he wrote that “a better and more direct way of requiring data centers to pay for upgrades is…to actually have them do that!”

For context: The NAACP is suing Elon Musk’s xAI over 27 gas turbines allegedly operating without an air permit at its Colossus 2 data center in Mississippi. The group claims this amounts to an illegal power plant…which could emit 1,700 tons of smog-forming pollution annually near a predominantly Black community.

xAI’s defense: The turbines are mobile and temporary, so they’re exempt from tougher air permitting rules. Currently, Colossus 2 may be running nearly 50 of these mobile turbines.

The twist: The DOJ signaled it may intervene in support of xAI, citing the Trump administration’s policy to “sustain and enhance America’s global AI dominance.” 

A state House bill would let Ohio utilities build and own nuclear plants (again) under certain conditions. Its supporters claim that nuclear is too expensive and long-lived for private developers to finance it alone.

The safeguard pitch: Utilities would need to lock down long-term power contracts. Only after those contracts expire could costs flow to other customers—and only if regulators decide the plant’s power is at or below market prices. But to critics, it’s just the same old song in a new key.