The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

By Robert Cyran

NEW YORK, May 18 (Reuters Breakingviews) - NextEra is buying Dominion for $67 bln to create a record-sized utility. Soaring investment in data centers encourages even big producers to get bigger. With customers already balking, however, state authorities will want a hefty slug of savings potentially worth some $8 bln.

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CONTEXT NEWS

NextEra Energy said on May 18 it would buy Dominion Energy in an all-stock transaction valued at about $66.8 billion in a deal that would create the world's largest regulated electric utility by market value.

Under the terms of the transaction, NextEra will exchange 0.8138 shares for each share of Dominion, paying a premium of 23% to the price on May 15, the last day of trading before the announcement. NextEra shareholders would own about 74.5% of the enlarged enterprise and Dominion's 25.5%. The companies are offering about $2.3 billion in bill credits to Dominion customers in Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina.

The companies expect the deal to close in 12 to 18 months. It is subject to antitrust review, approval from both sets of shareholders and approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and state utility commissions.

Lazard, Bank of America and Wells Fargo are advising NextEra, while Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan are advising Dominion.