Rodriguez has pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. SAC 1-2. In a Jan. 5 letter, they asked the commission to determine whether the company was using ratepayer money for political purposes. Canopy was started by former Matrix employees, led by Jeff Pitts. 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. Where did the $4 million paid by FPL to consultants working with Grow United, the nonprofit organization that funded the ghost candidate advertising, originate from and what was it spent on? That scheme included over half a million dollars spent on political mailers promoting the spoiler candidates. 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. 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. 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. FPL has said it was not fully aware of what its consultant was doing, and it has cast doubt on some of the reporting. Republican state legislators Sen. Jennifer Bradley and Rep. Lawrence McClure have filed identical legislation in the Senate and House that would end the states current net metering policy, which determines the credit that FPL and other utilities must pay to solar customers for excess solar energy that they generate and sell back to the grid. News images are from video content on CNNs YouTube Channel. 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. Letsgetstarted. Bradleys political committee, Women Building the Future, has taken $47,500 from investor-owned utilities, with $12,500 coming from NextEra Energy and $35,000 from TECO. On Wednesday, FPL spokesperson Chris McGrath denied that FPL was involved in the ghost candidate scheme. "I don't expect much of a change, leaving aside all of the stuff going on with the outgoing CEO," Patterson said. Gostons campaign was largely funded by Republicans with ties to Perry, as reported by the Gainesville Sun. The Florida Legislative Session begins January 11, 2022. On Monday, PSC Executive Director Braulio Baez responded that its not the PSCs job to answer those questions and suggested that the questionable expenses come from shareholder funds, not ratepayers. Mary Ellen Klas is the state Capitol bureau chief for the Miami Herald, where she covers government and politics and focuses on investigative and accountability reporting. 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. Who will build the $6 billion road and bridge projects underway in Tampa Bay? offered a job that was arranged by consultants for FPL in an unsuccessful attempt to get him to resign from the commission. About NextEra Energy NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NEE) is a leading clean energy company headquartered in Juno Beach, Florida. 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. A lot is riding on NextEra in the race to clean energy. On January 24th, the stock of renewables pioneer NextEra - now the U.S.'s largest utility company - dropped 8.8% on news the head of its FP&L unit was retiring. He started by questioning my premise that NextEra has a good reputation while its subsidiary, FPL, has taken some serious hits. The biggest user of the tax credit is Florida-based NextEra Energy, the nation's eighth-largest power producer. The Miami Herald has confirmed that NextEra has been conducting an internal investigationon FPLs involvement in the ghost candidate scheme. 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. His coverage deals with the business side of the clean-energy transition and he writes ICNs Inside Clean Energy newsletter. They remained that way until they took a stake in early wind farms in exchange for canceling the debts owed to them. He helped build NextEra Energy Resources and seemed to choose his retirement as opposed to being forced out, the former colleague said. Since then, theyve become skilled at creating and maintaining wind farms, and today their power reaches far beyond Florida. Matrix spent big money on advertising for another candidate with the same last name as Rodrguez to split the vote. 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. Director, Pres & CEO of Sub of Nextera Energy Inc (30-Year Financial, Insider Trades) Eric E Silagy (insider trades) sold 14,131 shares of NEE on 04/07/2021 at an average price of $78 a share. Clarification: This story was updated on Jan. 27, 2022, to reflect that the Jacksonville job was arranged by consultants for FPL, not directly by the company. Get a daily email of our original, groundbreaking stories written by our national network of award-winning reporters. Research and documents obtained and published by Orlando Sentinel reporters reveal that senior officials at Florida Power & Light (FPL), the largest electric utility in Florida, provided funding to the organization and consultants who engineered the spoiler candidates. 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. It depends on how trustworthy community members find NextEra in the coming months and how that support affects any proposed clean energy legislation. 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. 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. Goston claimed he did not know or care where the money supporting his candidacy came from, according to the Gainesville Sun. 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.. Its not clear yet whether law enforcement officials are investigating FPL or its executives for their involvement in the ghost candidate scheme, though the scandal has already resulted in criminal charges for some of its parties. All three districts received slightly modified versions of the same mailer, which seemed to target liberal-leaning voters in an apparent effort to siphon those votes away from the Democratic candidate. 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 NextEra's crown jewel utility, analysts say: stay out of the headlines. 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 . Its hard to predict what the scandal will mean for clean energy in the future or if it will have any effect at all. A major new transmission line intended to pipe carbon-free hydropower from Canada into the U.S. Northeast has met a powerful opponent: the world's largest provider of renewable energy. Screen for heightened risk individual and entities globally to help uncover hidden risks in business relationships and human networks. 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. Date. Some critics of Florida Power & Light, like Alissa Jean Schafer of watchdog group Energy Policy Institute, have welcomed Pimentels uneventful background. The most comprehensive solution to manage all your complex and ever-expanding tax and compliance needs. The second Defendant, Cottonwood Wind . 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. Operator: Good morning, and welcome to the NextEra Energy and NextEra Energy Partners Fourth Quarter 2022 Earnings Call. 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. 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. Republican Ileana Garcia won the election by 32 votes. 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. 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 . We deliver climate news to your inbox like nobody else. All quotes delayed a minimum of 15 minutes. CTRL + SPACE for auto-complete. 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 the. Perry has received $13,500 in direct political donations from Florida utilities, including $1,000 from NextEra, $2,500 from NextEra company Gulf Power, $4,500 from Duke, and $5,500 from TECO, according to campaign finance filings. 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. $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. You can keep up with her work on her site Environment.co. Alissa Jean Schafer is a research and communications specialist at the Energy and Policy Institute. The state senate districts were 9, 37, and 39. 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. In a Jan. 5 letter, they asked the commission to determine whether the company was using ratepayer money for political purposes. The raid and arrest came months after Artiles took credit for placing the previously unknown third party candidate, Alex Rodriguez, in the race for Senate District 37, according to a source who asked to remain anonymous out of fear of retaliation, as reported by Miami Herald last December. The bill outlines a reduction to the credit, which would dramatically limit the number of people who could affordably lease or buy panels. NextEra Energy is the largest generator of renewable energy in the United States and possibly the world. Our #1 newsletter delivers the weeks climate and energy news our original stories and top headlines from around the web. Since 2020, Florida-based news organizations have reported about FP&L's role in questionable political and campaign finance-related activity. An early adopter of renewable power generation, NextEra is the third-largest U.S. energy company by market capitalization behind Exxon Mobil (XOM.N) and Chevron (CVX.N). 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. Artiles has pleaded not guilty to the charges. 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. 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. Siemens Gamesa, a Leading Maker of Wind Turbines, Is Struggling: Wind turbine maker Siemens Gamesa lowered its financial outlook for 2022 and said it expects to lose money this year and next as it deals with high costs of raw materials and tough competition. 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. It was also announced that Silagy, the president and CEO of FPL, will take on the added responsibility of chairman of FPL. The messy business of being 'green'. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License by Energy and Policy Institute. Bainter and Data Targeting have been the focus of suspected misdeeds over the years. Where the scorpions on the corner just might kill you. 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. 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 quickly filed its own lawsuit against Matrix. By continuing to use this site, you accept this policy. Im eager to see whats yet to come, and whether it leads to changes in the way FPL does business. 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