The US energy utility Dominion Energy has reached an agreement to acquire energy holding SCANA Corporation in an US$14.6bn all-stock merger deal, in which SCANA shareholders will receive 0.6690 shares of Dominion Energy common stock for each SCANA share held. Dominion Energy will fund US$1.3bn of cash payouts to residential electricity customers.
The combined company will carry out operations in 18 states from Connecticut to California. It will have an installed power capacity of 31,400 MW and will operate 93,600 miles (150 600 km) of power transmission and distribution lines along with 106,400 miles (171,200 km) of gas pipelines and 1 Tcf (28 bcm) of gas storage capacity. The new company will deliver energy to approximately 6.5 million regulated customer accounts in eight states. The transaction is also expected to provide benefits to Scana's affiliate South Carolina Electric & Gas (SCE&G) by offsetting the costs related to the construction of the VC Summer nuclear units in South Carolina. Under the framework of the agreement, Dominion Energy agrees to write-off US$1.7bn of existing VC Summer 2 and 3 units capital along with regulatory assets which would decrease customer costs.
The transaction is expected to be completed in 2018 and is subject to regulatory approvals, including namely the US Federal Trade Commission, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Once completed, Scana would operate as a wholly owned affiliate of Dominion Energy.