Please support our work with a digital subscription. John Ketchum, a 19-year veteran of NextEra Energy, is named president and chief executive officer (CEO), NextEra Energy.He will report directly to the NextEra Energy, Inc. Board of Directors. 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. History of Power: Duke Energy's Century-Old Legacy. Date. Now, the Lands Are Being Offered to Solar Companies. "I don't expect much of a change, leaving aside all of the stuff going on with the outgoing CEO," Patterson said. Description. News. Who will build the $6 billion road and bridge projects underway in Tampa Bay? Alabama political firm and former NextEra consultant Matrix LLC, led by Joe Perkins, sued Canopy LLC, another firm allegedly working with NextEra. 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. Get a daily email of our original, groundbreaking stories written by our national network of award-winning reporters. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License by Energy and Policy Institute. So, thats probably all that were going to say on that today.. If you are somebody who maybe is on the fence about whether a wind farm should come to your community, and you see all this about what NextEra has doneand its true, (the company) really has behaved terriblythen, does that make you more or less trustworthy of them?. Prior to his resignation, Artiles fast-tracked pro-utility bills as former chairman of the Florida Senates Communications, Energy and Public Utilities Committee, including one that would have allowed NextEra to charge its Florida customers for exploratory fracking in Oklahoma, an attempted end-run around a Florida Supreme Court ruling against FPL on the matter. A lot is riding on NextEra in the race to clean energy. Entergy, which donated $10,000 to the Party [], [] has not shied away from shady political dealings in the past. Artiles has pleaded not guilty to the charges. Sources report that the current NextEra investigation may be part of a wider probe into ethicalcomplaints against Simpson, the Senate President, including allegations that campaign moneywas spent to cover the fact that he fathered a child out of wedlock with a lobbyist for the Publixsupermarket chain. Though this bill had massive potential to make clean energy more accessible for everyday people, FPL realized their profits would be cut if it were passed. Definition & Eligibility, Norwegian Plans Pricing Move That Royal Caribbean, Carnival Might Follow. Other stories about the energy transition to take note of this week: Deep in the Democrats Climate Bill, Analysts See More Wins for Clean Energy Than Gifts for Fossil Fuel Business: U.S. Senate leaders have included plenty of favors for the fossil fuel industry in the big climate package they hope to advance this week, but most analysts have concluded these concessions amount to consolation prizes in a deal where clean energy is the clear winner. (Heres the hearing transcript.). Bradley has taken $52,500 from Florida investor-owned utilities, between her campaign account and her political committee. As the biggest player in the game, investors, politicians, and civilians rely on NextEra to play a major role in encouraging and supporting clean energy legislation. The company, which has its main office in Spain, is hinting at job cuts, as Isla Binnie reports for Reuters. The energy company that runs the Florida Power & Light utility, as. They may have to wait until prosecutors investigate for answers, but Artiles history and ties to Florida utilities may provide some clues. A dark money non-profit called Grow United is at the center of the scandal, with records showing direct communication with and invoices to FPL. Simpson, through the FRSCC, then paid $7.2 million of this money to longtime ally Pat Bainterand Gainesville, Florida-based Republican campaign firm Data Targeting, reportedly directingthem to use the funds to support three independent candidates who would run as purportedliberals to siphon votes away from the legitimate Democrat Party candidate. In all races, the Republican won the []. Send news tips and questions to dan.gearino@insideclimatenews.org. Their power over utilities in Florida was challenged by legislation proposed by the Democratic Senator of Florida, Jos Javier Rodrguez, in 2019. They remained that way until they took a stake in early wind farms in exchange for canceling the debts owed to them. 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. Court documents obtained by the Miami Herald, as part of the state attorneys investigation, have shown that as part of the ghost candidate scheme Lets Preserve the American Dream paid former state Sen. Frank Artiles $125,000 for research and paid Grow United $1.15 million. The Office of Public Counsel, which advocates on behalf of Florida utility customers, also stated that it was a net benefit in that same workshop. Alissa Jean Schafer is a research and communications specialist at the Energy and Policy Institute. The papers also reported that a member of the Jacksonville City Council who didnt want to sell the citys utility company to FPL was offered a job that was arranged by consultants for FPL in an unsuccessful attempt to get him to resign from the commission. Community Solar Is About to Get a Surge in Federal Funding. In one Orlando Sentinel article, Silagy was accused of working with a political consultant to harass a Democratic state senator who introduced legislation unfavorable to FP&L. Inside Climate News uses cookies. Pasco park restaurant plans must wait for study of nearby burial mound, Tampa race has 4 candidates, including 2 council veterans, seeking open seat, St. Petersburg, Tampa Bay Rays to discuss these 9 topics about Tropicana Field, Rays Tyler Glasnow sustains oblique injury during practice, Hillsborough must right-size its school system | Editorial. NextEra boasts that it is a green energy leader and the world's largest generator of wind energy all true but its assets are not all green. Watch the Florida Legislature live: The Florida Channel, a public affairs programming service funded by the Legislature, livestreams coverage at thefloridachannel.org. 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 find electric utilities are not on track to meet decarbonization goals. 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. To the larger question of NextEras public image, Pomerantz answers with a question: What happens when the companys reputation as an unethical actor extends to their clean energy efforts? he asked. Political editor Emily L. Mahoney will send you a rundown on local, state and national politics coverage every Thursday. This decision flew somewhat under the radar, unlike the situation at Florida Power & Light. Inside Clean Energy is ICNs weekly bulletin of news and analysis about the energy transition. A look at the changing global population. Since the arrest of former Florida Senator Frank Artiles on March 18, political journalists, investigators, and elected office-holders in the state have increasingly been asking one question: Who provided the funds for the scheme Artiles engineered? One part of that is to convert gas-fired power plants to run on hydrogen. Rodriguez has pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. History of Power: Dominion Energy's Fluid Transition. That's a tax rate of just 1.25 percent over that period, when the . NextEra Energy (NE) is currently under investigation by the Florida Department of Law Derek Robins June 26, 2022 Business Enforcement for funneling money through a partisan political committee to a "ghost candidate" scheme that has already resulted in felony charges against five political operatives. In the midst of Florida Power & Lights push to dismantle a key rooftop solar policy in the state, new documents reveal that senior executives at the utility are closely connected to an ongoing election scandal and subsequent investigations, having personally coordinated with the consultants who moved millions of dollars to promote three spoiler candidates in 2020 state senate races. The reporting also found that the same FPL consultants have been involved in setting up front groups to advance FPLs political agenda, and paid activists to promote FPLs interests. Matrix spent big money on advertising for another candidate with the same last name as Rodrguez to split the vote. 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. Banter reportedly followed Simpsons orders, using the FPL-originated funds to pay FrankArtiles, a lobbyist who was indicted in the scheme last year. Rodrguez lost his Senate seat the following year, resulting in Republicans gaining control of the Florida Senate. NEW YORK(Reuters) The new head of Florida Power & Light (FP&L) has at least one important objective above and beyond running U.S. power giant NextEras crown jewel utility, analysts say: stay out of the headlines. You can reach her at meklas@miamiherald.com and on Twitter @MaryEllenKlas. They asked if the PSCs review was enough. On Tuesday, it became clear that Wall Street had noticed the stories. The most comprehensive solution to manage all your complex and ever-expanding tax and compliance needs. The Miami Herald has confirmed that NextEra has been conducting an internal investigationon FPLs involvement in the ghost candidate scheme. 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. We deliver climate news to your inbox like nobody else. He helped build NextEra Energy Resources and seemed to choose his retirement as opposed to being forced out, the former colleague said. Description. Additionally, the bill limits any grandfathering into the current policy to ten years, while many systems in Florida are financed beyond that timeframe, which means that customers who bought solar panels under the current net metering policy would see the value of their investments sharply decrease. The company was implicated in a ghost candidate scheme in Florida that ousted a climate advocate from state office. FPL is a subsidiary of Juno Beach, Florida-based NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NEE), a clean energy company widely recognized for its efforts in sustainability, corporate responsibility, ethics and . Gostons campaign was largely funded by Republicans with ties to Perry, as reported by the Gainesville Sun. 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. By Mary Ellen Klas (Reporting by Laila Kearney; Editing by Josie Kao). In California, Wait Lists for EV Rebates Are Long and Some Programs Have Shut Down: California needs to ramp up sales of electric vehicles to take on climate change and reduce air pollution, but consumers are having trouble navigating the states incentives and rebates, as Nadia Lopez reports for CalMatters. Republican Ileana Garcia won the election by 32 votes. 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. We have welcomed Armando Pimentel back to our company and have confidence that he will use his deep industry and company experience to further strengthen the FPL organization, NextEra Energy spokesperson David Reuter said. Internal documents obtained by the Sentinel show that Silagy used a pseudonym email Theodore Hayes to communicate with consultant Jeff Pitts, who controlled Grow United, with the memos noting that one goal was to minimize all public reporting of entities and activities.. Watchdog exposing the attacks on renewable energy and countering misinformation by fossil fuel interests. Florida Supreme Court ruling against FPL on the matter. Access unmatched financial data, news and content in a highly-customised workflow experience on desktop, web and mobile. A former NextEra colleague of Pimentel's, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Pimentel was a "straightforward, fact-based and driven" coworker with a calm temperament. NEW YORK, Feb 28(Reuters) - The new head of Florida Power & Light (FP&L) has at least one important objective above and beyond running U.S. power giant NextEra's crown jewel utility, analysts say: stay out of the headlines. In 2017, Perry voted in support of NextEras exploratory fracking legislation while serving on the Communications, Energy and Public Utilities Committee chaired by Artiles. 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. Canopy was started by former Matrix employees, led by Jeff Pitts. Matrix LLC has since sued several former employees, including its ex-CEO Jeff Pitts, accusing them of conspiring with FPL's parent company NextEra Energy Inc. to work on secret projects . He said that federal rules prohibit the PSC from including political expenses in the rate base and the company did not include these expenses as part of their supporting documentation and concluded that rates are not based upon costs for such prohibited purposes., Baez also defended the PSCs use of sampling as a means of auditing FPLs expenses saying it is common in all disciplines that use large amounts of data.. 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. [], [] has not shied away from shady political dealings in the past. NextEra Energy is the largest generator of renewable energy in the United States and possibly the world. Florida members of Congress have formally requested Attorney General Merrick Garland open an expansive corruption investigation to look into the source of potentially illegal funds used by Artiles. 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. But nobody brought up FPLs alleged skulduggery during the hearing. 7,400 gallons of wastewater spilled into Johns Pass. Kirk Crews, CFO, NextEra Energy NEE -0.6%. Artiles has long-standing close connections with FPL, as previously reported by Energy and Policy Institute in 2020 and 2021. The state recently joined New York and California in passing such laws, eliciting both support and pushback. Other utilities have tried similar strategies, but none have done it on the scale of NextEra. The no-party candidate, Alexis Alex Rodriguez, who did not campaign, received more than 6,000 votes. The club is suing, What makes Knaus Berry Farm such a landmark? The industry leader for online information for tax, accounting and finance professionals. Artiles faces multiple felony charges in connection to an alleged election scheme that successfully ousted Senator Jose Javier Rodriguez, a long-time climate advocate. 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? Operator: Good morning, and welcome to the NextEra Energy and NextEra Energy Partners Fourth Quarter 2022 Earnings Call. Though the Florida Power & Light scandal is one of the more recent topics bringing NextEra to the forefront of public attention, the company is certainly no stranger to controversy. Floridas largest utility has a lot of explaining to do after news organizations revealed some unseemly conduct. FPLs relationship with two political nonprofit committees Grow United and Lets Preserve the American Dream has come under recent scrutiny as part of a criminal investigation by the Miami-Dade County state attorney into a ghost candidate scandal. That scheme included over half a million dollars spent on political mailers promoting the spoiler candidates. Pulitzer Prize-winning, nonpartisan reporting on the biggest crisis facing our planet. 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