Power Play: DOJ’s Antitrust Division Puts Electricity Markets, And Digital Infrastructure Under The Microscope

For nearly fifteen years, DOJ deferred to FERC and state regulators on electricity merger review. That posture ended on December 5, 2025, when the Antitrust Division—joined by the Attorney General of Texas—filed a complaint and proposed consent decree requiring divestiture of six power plants to resolve concerns arising from Constellation Energy’s $26.6 billion acquisition of Calpine. It was the first time since the 2011 Exelon/Constellation matter that the Division sought structural relief in a generation merger, and it went beyond what FERC itself required. The complaint is notable not just for what DOJ required, but for how it got there. Rather than leaning on share thresholds or HHI screens, the Division articulated a portfolio-effects theory: the combined firm would have an “enhanced ability and incentive” to withhold output across its plants in PJM and ERCOT, with market-wide pricing consequences. That analytical posture—reinforced by AAG Slater’s February 2026 op-ed on