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. Artiles has long-standing close connections with FPL, as previously reported by Energy and Policy Institute in 2020 and 2021. Operator: Good morning, and welcome to the NextEra Energy and NextEra Energy Partners Fourth Quarter 2022 Earnings Call. 10 Takeaways from the IEA's Newest World Energy Outlook. The reports show that Florida Power & Light hired a political consulting firm that engaged in dirty tricks to harm or otherwise neutralize the companys perceived opponents, including elected officials and journalists. The company, which has its main office in Spain, is hinting at job cuts, as Isla Binnie reports for Reuters. In this first story in a series, I look at how the plan has divided the community and strained relationships between longtime friends and neighbors. 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. NextEra, TECO, and AIF did not respond to a request for comment. Canopy was started by former Matrix employees, led by Jeff Pitts. Robo responded: Sure, Julian, I think you know, on some of the Florida political headlines I think what Id like to say on that is pretty simple., He said that when the company received the report and those allegations that have been in the press, we conducted a very extensive and thorough investigation that included looking at company financial records and include looking at everyone who was named and its company emails. He said those involved all provided access to their personal emails and texts to us as part of that investigation., He concluded: The bottom line is we found no evidence of any issues at all, any illegality, or any wrongdoing on the part of FPL or any of its employees., Robo added that he felt very good about the investigation that we did, and I feel very good that there is, you know, no basis to any of these allegations. Download. Community Solar Is About to Get a Surge in Federal Funding. Sign up for Mary Ellens newsletter Politics and Policy in the Sunshine State. Matrix spent big money on advertising for another candidate with the same last name as Rodrguez to split the vote. By Mary Ellen Klas 2. Earlier this month, the reporting by the Orlando Sentinel, Florida Times-Union, and the Miami Herald prompted four Democratic lawmakers to ask state regulators to conduct an audit of FPL, the largest utility company in the nation and a monopoly regulated by the Florida Public Service Commission. 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. "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. Definition & Eligibility, Norwegian Plans Pricing Move That Royal Caribbean, Carnival Might Follow. Artiles has long-standing close connections with FPL, as previously reported by Energy and Policy Institute in 2020 and 2021. The proposed bill would allow landlords to sell cheap solar panels to their tenants. 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.. Broken Promises is one of only two groups that has contributed money to a Florida political committee called Consumers for Energy Fairness. I also saw how opponents of renewable energy development rarely miss an opportunity to sow distrust in the developer, with talk of how wind or solar would be an eyesore and potentially harm property values. The state senate districts were 9, 37, and 39. 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. We can do so much more on student loan forgiveness. 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. A team of ICN reporters led by Marianne Lavelle examined the bill and spoke with outside experts to get an idea of its implications. TALLAHASSEE Recent revelations about Florida Power & Lights involvement in a dark money scheme to siphon votes away from Senate Democratic candidates prompted its parent company to conduct an internal investigation, NextEra announced at an earnings call Tuesday. Banter reportedly followed Simpsons orders, using the FPL-originated funds to pay FrankArtiles, a lobbyist who was indicted in the scheme last year. McClure also worked closely with utility front group Energy Fairness, as reported by the Energy and Policy Institute. Please support our work with a digital subscription. In 2018, state Sen. Keith Perry won re-election against Democrat Kayser Enneking by about 2,000 votes, due in large part to a third-party former Democrat candidate likely pulling votes away from Enneking. 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.. The second group, Mothers for Moderation, a DC-based 501(c)(4) dark-money group with over $15 million in revenue, states that its mission is to advocate for policies that benefit women, according to its 2018 IRS filings. A day later, PSC Chairman Andrew Fay responded with an unequivocal rejection of their request, saying that the PSC has a long-standing prohibition on the inclusion of lobbying and other expenses, which have been determined to bring no benefit to ratepayers, among the expenses to be recovered through rates charged to the public for service., Fay added that when FPL filed its rate request, the appropriate auditing function was conducted during the commissions consideration of the most recent FPL rate case, and the audit produced no evidence that FPL used, or was intending to use, ratepayer funds for the private benefit of the companys lobbying, campaigning or marketing affairs.. 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. Florida Power & Light has a monopoly on power in Florida. 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. 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.. His political committee, Veterans for Conservative Principles, received nearly $13,000 from NextEra and $5,000 from Duke. [], [] has not shied away from shady political dealings in the past. 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. Kirk Crews, CFO, NextEra Energy NEE -0.6%. 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. Inside Clean Energy is ICNs weekly bulletin of news and analysis about the energy transition. 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. 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. 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. In a Jan. 5 letter, they asked the commission to determine whether the company was using ratepayer money for political purposes. So, thats probably all that were going to say on that today.. Where the scorpions on the corner just might kill you. The third-party candidate in that race, Charles Goston, earned about 4,300 votes as an independent, despite being a lifelong Democrat. They probably chose him to be a steady the ship-type figure, said Jack Dearing, an analyst withWashington-based Capstone LLC, which advises investors and companies on policy issues. 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. 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. 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). $5,000 from investor-owned utilities went to the campaign account directly: $1,000 from NextEra, $2,000 from Duke, and $2,000 from TECO. 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. 7,400 gallons of wastewater spilled into Johns Pass. He also was instrumental in the 2019 political campaign against the so-called energy choice petition drive, which was opposed by FPL and other utilities. "I don't think you're going to see any headlines like that (with Pimentel).". While FPL maintains they didnt know the full extent of what the firm was doing, piles of leaked emails and texts say otherwise. Pulitzer Prize-winning, nonpartisan reporting on the biggest crisis facing our planet. "I don't expect much of a change, leaving aside all of the stuff going on with the outgoing CEO," Patterson said. In response to the stories, FPL has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. 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. They may have to wait until prosecutors investigate for answers, but Artiles history and ties to Florida utilities may provide some clues. Since 2020, Florida-based news organizations have reported about FP&L's role in questionable political and campaign finance-related activity. Entergy, which donated $10,000 to the Party [], [] has not shied away from shady political dealings in the past. NextEras fourth-quarter earnings call with financial analysts, Robo announced he will be retiring from his position on March 1, PSC Executive Director Braulio Baez responded, Support my work with a digital subscription, Exclusive: Last grass lot on Miamis Brickell Avenue sells for $6 million. Some critics of Florida Power & Light, like Alissa Jean Schafer of watchdog group Energy Policy Institute, have welcomed Pimentel's uneventful background. Pimentel has been a well-known but low-key power industry figure whose familiarity with NextEra suggests he will provide consistent leadership for with NextEra's top subsidiary, said Glenrock Associates utility analyst Paul Patterson. It depends on how trustworthy community members find NextEra in the coming months and how that support affects any proposed clean energy legislation. 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. Robo responded: Sure, Julian, I think you know, on some of the Florida political headlines I think what Id like to say on that is pretty simple., He said that when the company received the report and and those allegations that have been in the press, we conducted a very extensive and thorough investigation that included looking at company financial records and include looking at everyone who was named and its company emails. He said those involved all provided access to their personal emails and texts to us as part of that investigation., He concluded: The bottom line is we found no evidence of any issues at all, any illegality, or any wrongdoing on the part of FPL or any of its employees., Robo added that he felt very good about the investigation that we did, and I feel very good that there is, you know, no basis to any of these allegations. FPL spokespeople denied that FPL had any role in the spoiler candidate scheme in a comment to the Sentinel. This is a very good deal for the climate.. The mailers featured similar language that appeared to target progressive voters, pulling from the Democratic candidate, as reported by the Miami Herald and Orlando Sentinel. 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. The legislators responded on Jan. 10, saying they considered the PSCs review incomplete given the news stories. 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. Campaign created by chips Armstrong Stop rewarding, and PUNISH those masquerading as renewable energy providers, like NextEra Energy Resources, formerly Florida Power & Light, and make them accountable for cleaning up their environmental carnage. Your source for the latest news and stories from NextEra Energy and its subsidiaries. Its useless at this time because theres nothing out there and the cars that you do find, everythings gone up in price.. relationship with two political nonprofit committees Grow United, shown that as part of the ghost candidate scheme. 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. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. 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. He pointed to some of NextEras conduct outside of Florida, like its opposition to a power line in Maine that would have delivered renewable energy from Canada and harmed the market for a nuclear plant co-owned by the company. Its hard to predict what the scandal will mean for clean energy in the future or if it will have any effect at all. In November 2021, for example, the company spent $20 million to ban the 145-mile transmission line needed to transport clean energy in Maine. Date. 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 the United States and Canada. 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. Simpson, a longtime beneficiary of FPL political giving, may have spent NextEra-originatedfunds, with FPL knowledge, to pay off individuals with knowledge of his illegitimate child inwhat was reportedly known internally as Operation Ginger. The goal of these efforts appearto be to prevent the public from learning about the Senate Presidents indiscretions prior to hisascension to the top position in the state Legislature. 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