His political committee, Veterans for Conservative Principles, received nearly $13,000 from NextEra and $5,000 from Duke. Even if you put somebody who is a perfectly fine individual with a financial background and doesnt have this aggressive history it doesnt necessarily make up for the fact of all that did happen in very recent history, Schafer said. They remained that way until they took a stake in early wind farms in exchange for canceling the debts owed to them. Artiles has been connected to Florida utilities, including NextEra and its subsidiary Florida Power and Light (FPL), for years. 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. 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. Pimentel has been a well-known but low-key power industry figure whose familiarity with NextEra suggests he will provide consistent leadership for with NextEras top subsidiary, said Glenrock Associates utility analyst Paul Patterson. CTRL + SPACE for auto-complete. All quotes delayed a minimum of 15 minutes. The documents also showed that Silagy coordinated with the political consultants to steer campaign contributions made through nonprofits in past elections. 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. 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. 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. Broken Promises is one of only two groups that has contributed money to a Florida political committee called Consumers for Energy Fairness. He started by questioning my premise that NextEra has a good reputation while its subsidiary, FPL, has taken some serious hits. It was also announced that Silagy, the president and CEO of FPL, will take on the added responsibility of chairman of FPL. That scheme included over half a million dollars spent on political mailers promoting the spoiler candidates. Since then, theyve become skilled at creating and maintaining wind farms, and today their power reaches far beyond Florida. Since then, the legislature replaced the previous leader of that office, J.R. Kelly, with a former utility lobbyist, Richard Gentry. AIF has close financial ties to Floridas investor owned utilities, as EPI has documented. Watchdog exposing the attacks on renewable energy and countering misinformation by fossil fuel interests, Artiles close relationship with NextEra Energy and Florida Power & Light included NASCAR perks, campaign contributions. The closest NextEra has come is a promise to reduce its carbon emissions rate (i.e., emissions per unit of energy) 67% below 2005 levels by 2025. The biggest user of the tax credit is Florida-based NextEra Energy, the nation's eighth-largest power producer. With the Florida state senate hanging in the balance in the 2020 election, a network of dark-money groups engineered a brazen scheme to siphon votes from Democrats to third-party ghost candidates in three of Floridas legislative elections, all of which were won by Republicans, two by razor-thin margins. The Senate District 37 scandal was one of three races in Florida in the 2020 cycle that followed a nearly identical pattern: A close race, an unknown third party candidate to siphon some of the votes, and campaign mailers attacking the Democratic candidate, all paid for by new, out-of-state political committees. The Defendant, NextEra Energy Resources, LLC ("NextEra"), is the largest wind energy generator in the world and operates over 100 wind energy facilities nationwide. That political power has helped FPL to secure a return on equity of 10.6% in the latest rate increases that it secured from regulators much higher than the national average for utilities. Letsgetstarted. [], [] has not shied away from shady political dealings in the past. Date. Political editor Emily L. Mahoney will send you a rundown on local, state and national politics coverage every Thursday. FPL spokespeople denied that FPL had any role in the spoiler candidate scheme in a comment to the Sentinel. Every day or once a week, our original stories and digest of the webs top headlines deliver the full story, for free. Every day or once a week, our original stories and digest of the web's top headlines deliver the full story, for free. The scandal ballooned last week when three more arrests were made, including of Ben Paris, the chair of the Seminole County (FL) Republican Executive Committee. Rodriguez has pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. About NextEra Energy NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NEE) is a leading clean energy company headquartered in Juno Beach, Florida. I reported this story with Tracy Wholf, coordinating climate producer for ABC News, and we also worked together on a special episode of ABCs podcast Start Here that delves into the nuanced concerns on both sides of the conflict. Where the scorpions on the corner just might kill you. If NextEra is to be the model of a sustainable energy giant, it must shed its brown assets. For example, Richard Alexander, who lives in Cullman, Alabama, 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. JUNO BEACH, Fla., Nov. 2, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- NextEra Energy Partners, LP (NYSE: NEP) today announced that it has entered into an agreement with a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources, LLC to . There are two civil lawsuits in the mix as well. 2. Id. In all races, the Republican won the []. Community Solar Is About to Get a Surge in Federal Funding. Florida Supreme Court ruling against FPL on the matter. Since the publication of that article, McClure has taken an additional $8,500 in political contributions from Florida investor-owned utilities; $1,000 from NextEra Energy to his campaign directly, and $7,500 from Duke Energy to McClures political committee, Conservative Florida. 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.. In Florida, DeSantis May End the Battle Over Rooftop Solar With a Pen Stroke - Corruption by Cops, In Florida, DeSantis May End the Battle Over Rooftop Solar With a Pen Stroke - Earth2, Utility executive contributions surge in Minnesota state senate race - Energy and Policy Institute, Amid Connections to Ongoing Election Scandals, NextEra Pours Millions into Floridas 2022 Election Cycle - Energy and Policy Institute, Southwest Gas aims to make customers pay for its American Gas Association membership dues. So, thats probably all that were going to say on that today.. The industry leader for online information for tax, accounting and finance professionals. NextEra Energy Resources, LLC is a clean energy leader and is one of the largest wholesale generators of electric power in the U.S., with approximately 23,900 megawatts of total net generating . 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. Screen for heightened risk individual and entities globally to help uncover hidden risks in business relationships and human networks. This effort takes a lot of resources to gather and update. 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. 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. History of Power: Duke Energy's Century-Old Legacy. Despite its position as a renewable energy generator, the company has been shrouded in controversy - the most recent of which has to do with Florida Power & Light (FPL), one of the companies operating beneath them. Bainter was also heavily involved in Perrys campaign and was suspected by some observers to have orchestrated the funding behind Gostons third-party candidacy, which may have included funds connected to a utility front group. 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. 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Public Lands in the US Have Long Been Disposed to Fossil Fuel Companies. Pimentel was CEO of NextEra Energy Resources, the company's unregulated arm focused on renewable power, for eight years before retiring in 2019. FPLs response as well as the statements provided for the docket by the staff involved in the rate case audit, leave many questions and concerns for our constituents and Floridians at large, the legislators wrote. 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? NextEra, also based in Florida, has become a giant by racking up profits from its regulated utility business at FPL and using that as a foundation to build wind, solar and battery projects across. Pulitzer Prize-winning, nonpartisan reporting on the biggest crisis facing our planet. Were working hard to bring you the latest news from the states legislative session. The races for Senate District 9 and 39 followed the same pattern. While FPL maintains they didnt know the full extent of what the firm was doing, piles of leaked emails and texts say otherwise. The no-party candidate, Alexis Alex Rodriguez, who did not campaign, received more than 6,000 votes. Consultants who control Grow United billed FPL for over $3 million before the entity started moving funds around for the election scheme. A similar sounding utility front group, Energy Fairness, is a client of McNicholas & Associates. If trust in NextEra dwindlesand seemingly it has, if stock recommendations are anything to judge bypeople might be less willing to consider the installation of a wind farm in their community. History of Power: Dominion Energy's Fluid Transition. 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. Get a daily email of our original, groundbreaking stories written by our national network of award-winning reporters. Go to the kitchen tables of America. He came to ICN in 2018 after a nine-year tenure at The Columbus Dispatch, where he covered the business of energy. All . When McClure first introduced the concept of changing Floridas net metering policy in 2019, he had already taken over $20,000 from investor-owned utilities. To help figure this out, I reached out to David Pomerantz, who makes a living investigating utility companies as executive director of the Energy and Policy Institute, a nonprofit watchdog organization. Who will build the $6 billion road and bridge projects underway in Tampa Bay? 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