Dominion Energy announced Friday it is moving forward with its leadership succession plan, promoting Executive Vice President and Co-COO Robert Blue to president and CEO by Oct. 1.

The news came during Friday’s second quarter earnings call, with current Chairman, President and CEO Thomas Farrell continuing to lead the Board of Directors as executive chair. Farrell joined Dominion in 1995 and was promoted to president and CEO in 2006 and chairman in 2007.

Farrell said the board believed it to be “an appropriate time to take the next step in our management transition” with the sale earlier in July of Dominion’s natural gas assets to Berkshire Hathaway for $10 billion and a path for the company to achieve net zero carbon dioxide and methane emissions from its power generation and gas infrastructure operations by 2050. Ferrell said there is no set timeframe for his new role as executive chair.

“The primary goal of our succession planning process has been to ensure continuity of our strategy, public policy, corporate values and operational excellence,” Farrell said. “As executive chair, I will continue to represent the company, engaging with key stakeholders, industry groups and others that will be particularly focused on continuing to develop our strategic plan and Dominion’s leadership in the new clean energy economy.”

Blue joined Dominion in 2005 and has held several executive roles since his promotion to an officer in 2007, including vice president of state and federal affairs and president of Dominion Virginia Power. Prior to joining the company, Blue served as a counselor and director of policy for Virginia Gov. Mark Warner and a law clerk for the U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Virginia.

Diane Leopold, executive vice president and co-COO, will become the company’s sole COO with responsibility for all of Dominion’s operating segments. Edward Baine was promoted to president of Dominion Energy Virginia.

Earnings

During Friday’s earnings presentation, Dominion CFO Jim Chapman announced the company reported a second-quarter loss of $1.2 billion ($1.41/share) on revenue of $3.59 billion, compared with a net gain of $54 million ($0.05/share) on $3.97 billion in revenue for the same period in 2019. He said the loss was impacted by worse-than-normal weather in its service territories and impairment-related charges associated with the cancellation of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and Supply Header projects.

Operating earnings for the second quarter were $706 million ($0.82/share), compared with operating earnings of $619 million ($0.77/share) in 2019. The results beat Wall Street operating results expectations, with the average estimate of 81 cents per share for earnings among four analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research.

For the third quarter, Dominion expects its per-share earnings to range from 85 cents to $1.05 and a full-year earnings in the range of $3.37 to $3.63 per share.

Company Initiatives

After cancelling the long-disputed $8 billion Atlantic Coast Pipeline in July with its partner, Duke Energy, followed by the sale of its natural gas assets to Berkshire Hathaway, Dominion is now following its plan to grow its renewable energy capacity by more than 15% annually for the next 15 years. Farrell said the company has already achieved its 3,000-MW targets for renewable generation in service or under development in Virginia, a year and a half ahead of schedule.

He also highlighted Dominion’s growing solar portfolio, which makes it currently the third-largest owner of solar capacity among utility companies in the country. And Dominion’s pilot wind project off the coast of Virginia is scheduled to begin generating electricity in the third quarter, Farrell said, with the rest of the $8 billion, 2.6-GW full-scale offshore wind project continuing on schedule.

Energy Company Controversies

Recent bribery scandals involving two of the biggest energy companies in the country, Exelon and FirstEnergy, played into Friday’s earnings call. In the question-and-answer period, Farrell was asked about Dominion’s own contributions to 501(c)(4) nonprofit social welfare organizations and whether the company has any plans to modify its political lobbying strategies considering the federal investigations going on with Exelon and FirstEnergy.

He said Dominion has “fully disclosed” its 501(c)(4) contributions for several years. Over the last five years, the company’s contributions to 501(c)(4)s have been under $500,000, with 70% of that total going to an organization associated with American Petroleum Institute that supports pipeline projects.

“We have no intention of changing our practices because they are perfectly appropriate [and] completely compliant with every state in federal law by wide margins,” Farrell said. “We have nothing to be concerned about with respect to any of our political giving or giving to these so-called 501(c)(4)s.”