Justice Department ends Vistra Cogentrix probe after plant sales

The Justice Department closed its investigation of Vistra's acquisition of Cogentrix after the companies decided on their own to sell two New England power plants, and said the sales will save the region's electricity customers tens of millions of dollars a year.

Why it matters: The department kept investigating after the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved the deal without conditions, and its statement says it will keep monitoring electricity mergers and the Rumford sale.

Data as of US Department of Justice statement of October 30, 2026, read in full in this run; every figure and quotation is the department's own. Developing item.

The Justice Department’s Antitrust Division has closed its investigation of Vistra Corp.’s acquisition of Cogentrix Energy from Quantum Capital Group, announced on January 5, after the companies decided on their own to sell two plants in ISO New England. Vistra had already sold its Casco Bay Energy facility, and Cogentrix will now sell its gas-fired combined-cycle plant in Rumford, Maine, a sale the department says it will continue to monitor.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved the transaction without conditions, but the division continued its own review and concluded that the combined fleet in New England could still substantially lessen competition, by giving the merged company the ability and incentive to withhold electricity from the market. Associate Attorney General Stanley E. Woodward, Jr. said the division anticipates that “Vistra’s divestitures will save consumers throughout New England tens of millions of dollars annually in electricity bills.”

Justice Department ends Vistra Cogentrix probe after plant sales

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