NextEra Energy, the parent company of Florida Power & Light and Gulf Power, offered $11 billion in a failed attempt to purchase Jacksonville-based JEA that would have netted former JEA executives millions of dollars in bonuses. On Wednesday, FPL spokesperson Chris McGrath denied that FPL was involved in the ghost candidate scheme. Its video library also archives coverage for later viewing. At NextEras fourth-quarter earnings call with financial analysts, Julien Patrick Dumoulin-Smith of Bank of America Securities asked Robo if he could share around some of the headlines pertaining to FPL here? The company was trading well above its peers before news that Silagy would leave his post this month and depart the company in mid-May. That scheme included over half a million dollars spent on political mailers promoting the spoiler candidates. Artiles has pleaded not guilty to the charges. The Orlando Sentinel connected Republican consultant Alex Alvarado to the production and printing of the mailers for the third-party candidates in October. Pomerantz said the goal of moving to zero emissions is a very good one, but he questions the feasibility of using hydrogen as a major part of generating electricity. Both South Florida mailers for Alex Rodriguez and Celso Alfonso and Central Florida mailers for Jestine Iannotti featured identical text, focused on fixing health care, fighting climate change, and speaking truth to power. Simply put, the PSC is charged with ensuring that the rates charged to customers by a utility are fair, just and reasonable, and that those rates are set at levels sufficient to recover only the prudently incurred costs to provide service, Baez wrote. The Orlando Sentinel connected Republican consultant Alex Alvarado, Jobs for Florida and Floridians for Economic Freedom, attack on rooftop solar in 2020, via Florida Representative Lawrence McClure, NextEra, Florida utilities closely aligned with election fraud suspect Frank Artiles DangerousWombatDream, NextEra, Florida utilities closely aligned with election fraud suspect Frank Artiles shoukhin vlog, Records Show Senior Florida Power & Light Execs Closely Connected to Election Scandals - Energy and Policy Institute, Louisiana Democratic Party Funneled Utility Donations to Climate Candidate Challenger - DeSmog, Louisiana Democratic Party Funneled Utility Donations to Climate Candidate Challenger | Climate Change, Louisiana Democratic Party funneled utility donations to climate candidate's - Tools for Investors | News, Louisiana Democratic Party Funneled Utility Donations to Climate Candidate Challenger CommunistNews.net, Louisiana Democratic Party funneled utility donations to climate candidate challenger - Verite, Michigan utilities front groups begin misleading ad campaigns ahead of a vote on energy legislation. According to reporting from the Orlando Sentinel, a broad criminal investigation is underway in Miami, with felony charges against former Senator Frank Artiles, and the spoiler candidate in District 37 has pled guilty. Alissa Jean Schafer is a research and communications specialist at the Energy and Policy Institute. The Miami Herald and others reported claims that company executives worked with a consultant to derail certain state senate candidates and surveil a journalist who wrote critically about the regulated utility. The races for Senate District 9 and 39 followed the same pattern. We take all allegations seriously, and weve found no evidence that either FPL or our employees had any involvement in, financially supported, or directed any third party to support ghost candidates during last years Florida election cycle, he said. Write CSS OR LESS and hit save. Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Utility Front Group Advertisement Tracker, American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, Gas utilities push RNG and hydrogen to expand fossil fuel infrastructure, AGA uses millions of dollars from utility customers to promote a fossil fuel agenda, Internal documents detail how gas utilities greenwash RNG and hydrogen, Front groups and trade associations funded by gas utilities fight electrification policies, List of deceptive RNG and hydrogen projects, Major investors warn utilities against carbon capture and offsets, obtained and published by Orlando Sentinel, According to reporting from the Orlando Sentinel. Im eager to see whats yet to come, and whether it leads to changes in the way FPL does business. Canopy quickly filed its own lawsuit against Matrix. The Defendant, NextEra Energy Resources, LLC ("NextEra"), is the largest wind energy generator in the world and operates over 100 wind energy facilities nationwide. Consultants who control Grow United billed FPL for over $3 million before the entity started moving funds around for the election scheme. Their power over utilities in Florida was challenged by legislation proposed by the Democratic Senator of Florida, Jos Javier Rodrguez, in 2019. Political editor Emily L. Mahoney will send you a rundown on local, state and national politics coverage every Thursday. Artiles accepted over $30,000 in political contributions from Florida utilities throughout his time in office, including $6,000 from NextEra, $4,500 from TECO, and $4,000 from Duke Energy in direct contributions. The documents also showed that Silagy coordinated with the political consultants to steer campaign contributions made through nonprofits in past elections. In the 2020 cycle alone, the Florida Republican Senate Campaign Committee (FRSCC) reported over $7 million dollars in expenditures to Data Targeting, for services including research, polling, advertising, campaign staff, and line items only reported as consulting. Nearly $183,000 of FRSCCs spending with Data Targeting was earmarked for the Senate District 37 race, the same race that led to Artiles arrest. At the end of the earnings call, Robo announced he will be retiring from his position on March 1 and John Ketchum, currently president and CEO of NextEra Energy Resources, will succeed him. 10 Takeaways from the IEA's Newest World Energy Outlook. Send news tips and questions to [email protected]. A lot is riding on NextEra in the race to clean energy. We got into this program and its not helping like its supposed to, said Quintin Nelms, who has faced a long wait for his rebate. Were working hard to bring you the latest news from the states legislative session. He was previously chief financial officer of NextEra Energy, a partner at Deloitte & Touche and an accounting fellow at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. In the race for Perrys seat in 2018, an organization called Broken Promises donated over $130,000 to the political committee Friends of Charles Goston.. Christopher Sabella elected as Hillsborough Countys next chief judge, Tampa Bay harbor pilots pay raise request stirs storm at Tampas port, Prominent Florida political consultants may face criminal charges in sham candidate case, Get Capitol Buzz, a special bonus edition of The Buzz with Emily L. Mahoney, each Saturday while the Legislature is meeting, Florida Senate sponsor agrees to weaken preemption bill. That said, he acknowledges there is a cognitive dissonance between NextEras status as a major player in the transition to renewable energy and FPLs status as a utility that relies heavily on fossil fuels, with a reputation for fighting dirty in defending its interests. For example, Richard Alexander, who lives in Cullman, Ala., and not only chairs Grow United, he also has been tied to groups that were created to promote the agenda of Floridas powerful sugar and electric utilities industries, according to the Orlando Sentinel. But the company is limited in what it can do to defend itself because of reams of evidence, in leaked emails and texts, showing that company executives were aware of at least some of what was happening. Ramba and his connections to FPL were criticized in 2017 when Artiles traveled on a plane, owned by Ramba, accompanied by John Holley, the director of state legislative affairs for FPL and a former lobbyist with Rambas firm, as reported by the Miami Herald. In all races, the Republican won the []. The firm, which also includes consultants Matt Mitchell and Michael Sheehan, came under intense scrutiny for their role in Floridas redistricting and were required to turn in over 1,800 pages of records as part of a lawsuit filed by Fair District voting-rights groups in 2013. Description. Pimentel replaces outgoing FP&L CEO Eric Silagy, who joined NextEra roughly two decades ago, worked as a top lobbyist for the company and has been at the center of some of its publicity problems. Republican Ileana Garcia won the election by 32 votes. NextEra Energy announces agreement to sell a 50% interest in an approximately 2,520-megawatt portfolio renewables project to a third party, highlighting the value of its best-in-class development program. FPL has for decades spent millions on lobbying and election influence at every level of politics in Florida, giving it and its parent company, NextEra Energy, immense influence over the states politicians. They cited the utilities expert, Karl Rabagos testimony in the rate case, in which he noted that FPL spent millions of dollars in dues paid to certain politically active trade associations and cited the PSCs own documents in the rate case. In response to the stories, FPL has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. Are Floridians expected to simply believe that the standard rate case process results are comprehensive and fully accurate, especially given how much detail is left out of the public eye? they asked. Matrix spent big money on advertising for another candidate with the same last name as Rodrguez to split the vote. Some of thislike turning a news website into a mouthpiece for the utility or surveilling a newspaper columnist in the hopes of catching him doing something embarrassingsounds like the stuff of conspiracy theories. Pimentel was CEO of NextEra Energy Resources, the company's unregulated arm focused on renewable power, for eight years before retiring in 2019. Canopy was started by former Matrix employees, led by Jeff Pitts. FPL spokespeople denied that FPL had any role in the spoiler candidate scheme in a comment to the Sentinel. Dan Gearino covers the midwestern United States, part of ICNs National Environment Reporting Network. Jim Robo, the current chairman and CEO, will become executive chairman for a transition period, and it is anticipated that Mr. Ketchum will also be appointed to the company's board of directors effective . News images are from video content on CNNs YouTube Channel. Description. I know theres been a lot of back and forth and perhaps theres a lot of context to provide there. Dumoulin-Smith is director of U.S. Power, Utilities and Alternative Energy Equity Research for Bank of American Securities. They may have to wait until prosecutors investigate for answers, but Artiles history and ties to Florida utilities may provide some clues. Can the PSC provide a complete list of 501(c)4 social welfare organizations that FPL has provided funding to over the past five years? Shares of NextEra sank late last month by nearly 9%, their biggest daily drop in more than two years, after the company abruptly announced Silagy would retire under the threat of a formal. Watch the Florida Legislature live: The Florida Channel, a public affairs programming service funded by the Legislature, livestreams coverage at thefloridachannel.org. On Wednesday, FPL spokesperson Chris McGrath denied that FPL was involved in the ghost candidate scheme. Community Solar Is About to Get a Surge in Federal Funding. Artiles is facing several felony charges for allegedly recruiting and paying an auto-parts dealer who shared the same surname as the Democratic incumbent in the race for Senate District 37 to run as a no-party candidate and confuse voters and influence the outcome of the 2020 election, according to his arrest affidavit. In one case, one of those three committees got $115,000 from an Associated Industries-controlled group and immediately paid $104,909 to Alvarado Strategies, the Sentinel reported. The non-profit committees were set up by political consultants working for FPL, who had consulted with Silagy, according to reporting by the Orlando Sentinel, the Miami Herald and the Florida Times-Union. NextEra Energy is on the receiving end of a proposed class action lawsuit in which a Nebraska homeowner alleges the electricity provider's wind turbines placed near residential communities are a "nuisance" and effectively deprive homeowners of the use and enjoyment of their property. This reporting has raised significant questions around the potential of ratepayer funds being used to not only influence elections but to undermine democracy through fake candidate schemes, astroturfing, and attempted bribes, wrote state Reps. Anna Eskamani, Carlos Guillermo Smith, Angie Nixon and Travaris McCurdy. Each wind energy facility includes a collection of wind turbines that, put simply, rapidly rotate to create energy. I dont have very many neighbors talk to me anymore, said Mark Schein, a retired farmer who upset people by leasing his property for the project, along with about a dozen others in the community. Through skillful manipulation of the credits, NextEra from 2005 to 2009 'paid just $88 million in taxes on earnings of nearly $7 billion,' Business Week reports. I dont expect much of a change, leaving aside all of the stuff going on with the outgoing CEO, Patterson said. So, thats probably all that were going to say on that today.. Watchdog exposing the attacks on renewable energy and countering misinformation by fossil fuel interests. But it will be take more than a change of guard for the utility to shake off the scandals that took place under Silagy, said Schafer. Bainter and Data Targeting have been the focus of suspected misdeeds over the years. NextEra Energy is the largest generator of renewable energy in the United States and possibly the world. Sources explain that inthe scheme, Senate President Wilton Simpson, a Republican endorsed by both PresidentDonald Trump and Governor Ron DeSantis, received FL contributions through the FloridaRepublican Senatorial Campaign Committee (FRSCC). Shares of NextEra sank late last month by nearly 9%, their biggest daily drop in more than two years, after the company abruptly announced Silagy would retire under the threat of a formal investigation by the Federal Election Commission into the company's political giving. If you havent already subscribed, please consider buying a print or digital subscription. Your source for the latest news and stories from NextEra Energy and its subsidiaries. NextEras executives and shareholders have reason to worry, but its too soon to know how much. Broken Promises is one of only two groups that has contributed money to a Florida political committee called Consumers for Energy Fairness. All quotes delayed a minimum of 15 minutes. (Rooftop solar systems generally last for 25 years or longer.) Date. Bradley and McClure have both taken tens of thousands of dollars in political contributions from Floridas investor-owned utilities. Artiles has long-standing close connections with FPL, as previously reported by Energy and Policy Institute in 2020 and 2021. It begs the question of who the PSC serves is it Floridians or is it utility companies?. NextEra Energy CEO James Robo responded to a question from a Bank of America Securities analyst and said the company had FPL CEO Eric Silagy turn over emails and text messages and concluded there was no evidence of illegality or wrongdoing on the part of FPL or any of its employees.. They cited utilities expert Karl Rabagos testimony in the rate case, in which he noted that FPL spent millions of dollars in dues paid to certain politically active trade associations and cited the commissions own documents in the rate case. The proposed bill would allow landlords to sell cheap solar panels to their tenants. This effort takes a lot of resources to gather and update. I know theres been a lot of back and forth and perhaps theres a lot of context to provide there. Dumoulin-Smith is director of U.S. Power, Utilities and Alternative Energy Equity Research for Bank of American Securities. He helped build NextEra Energy Resources and seemed to choose his retirement as opposed to being forced out, the former colleague said. [] utility Florida Power & Light backed the legislation, and, according to an investigation by the Energy and Policy Institute, a watchdog group, donated tens of thousands of dollars in [], [] more brazen attempt to interfere in state politics, FPL executives including Silagy were closely connected to a state election scandal that involved recruiting and funding sham candidates to siphon votes away from incumbent Democrats [], [] Herald. He was previously chief financial officer of NextEra Energy, a partner at Deloitte & Touche and an accounting fellow at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Sign up for our newsletter: Get Capitol Buzz, a special bonus edition of The Buzz with Emily L. Mahoney, each Saturday while the Legislature is meeting. Life expectancy in the U.S. fell during the same period that a Reagan-era law raised the retirement age by two years. He came to ICN in 2018 after a nine-year tenure at The Columbus Dispatch, where he covered the business of energy. 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