Alissa Jean Schafer is a research and communications specialist at the Energy and Policy Institute. FPL: Plant has "best available" and "most advanced" emission controls, Data shows FPL plant is highly efficient compared to others, Find Energy, experts laud FPL for use of natural gas, FPL touts its 'gas guzzler' to 'hybrid' modernization strategy, Analyst: Utilities 'doing their part,' urgency of the moment requires more, Solar advocates push for last-minute changes to net metering bills, FPL blows up its last coal-fired power plant; announces plans for its newest solar center, Your next Florida Power & Light electric bill is going way up. The plan ultimately failed, and Stoddard was re-elected. Watchdog exposing the attacks on renewable energy and countering misinformation by fossil fuel interests, DeSantis faces Democrat and Utility Critic, Crist. Flight data shows Matrixs planes made more than 130 flights to five states in 2020 alone, frequently crisscrossing the south-eastern US but also traveling as far west as New Mexico. Reporting, primarily by the Orlando Sentinel, showed spoiler candidates in three state Senate races in 2020 were propped up by at least a half-million dollars from dark-money groups in an effort to help damage the Democrats in those races and help Republicans control the chamber. I find this to be horrifying and undemocratic, said Gianna Trocino Bonner, former chief legislative aide for Rodrguez, after reviewing some of the leaked documents. There has to be a transition. This plant has been part of the solution.. They dont make money off of the solar power generated from rooftops. There are reasons to prefer alternatives that are not fossil-fuel intensive. At the Birmingham office where Pitts and the others had worked, Perkins said he found a backup server that appeared to have been beaten with something. You gotta bow down and kiss the ring.. FPL has long despised Klas' hard-hitting coverage of the company. Thats a trend nationwide, as power company profits are threatened by the rise of distributed renewable energy a technology which scientists say is essential to limiting the pollution that causes the climate crisis. Florida Power & Light has a monopoly on power in Florida. Theyve got the lobbying power, and weve got the people power.. Maybe we should double down on energy-efficiency measures. Ketchum also reiterated that when he was named to the NextEra CEO role after Jim Robo stepped down, Silagy had committed to Ketchum that he would lead FPL for at least one more year. Silagy said the email in which he told his team to make Rodrguezs life a living hell was a poor choice of words. Its also up to us to push them more. Florida Power & Light CEO Eric Silagy announced his retirement on Wednesday. "We contributeto organizations where we're aligned on what the ultimate goal is, and from the standpoint of having the Senate at the time, who was being led by (Senate President) Wilton Simpson, continue to be able to be led by Wilton Simpson,I was a fan of that," FPL CEO Eric Silagy, recently told me and several other journalists with the Times-Union, Orlando Sentinel and Floodlight in a wide-ranging interview in Jacksonville. Very early on in this bills ride, I think it has a real chance to settle out in a way that most parties are not upset, he said. More recently, the company hired an outside law firm to look more broadly at the company's actions. The sex worker later testified the allegations were untrue, and that she had been paid by a Birmingham businessman to make them. Matrixs influence was felt on matters small and large, from Stoddards city of less than 12,000 to statewide fights over the Florida constitution. The utility doesnt want to be associated with this campaign.. NextEra Energy and its subsidiaries, Florida Power & Light and Florida City Gas, have poured nearly $6 million into state level campaign funds and political committees. The Governor also has veto power over legislation that Floridas GOP-majority legislature passes. They work off intimidating. The team decided an effort to repeal the ordinance would probably fail. Our programs are designed to make paying your bill simple and manageable. About a decade ago, FPL made the fateful decision to hire Matrix LLC, an Alabama-based political consulting firm notorious in its home state but with little public profile in Florida. The company conducted an internal investigation and "found no evidence of any issues at all, any illegality or any wrongdoing on the part of FPL or any of its employees. Responding to dark money controversy, NextEra did internal investigation into FPL. Become a member to support the independent voice of South Florida The string of controversy spans nearly the entire Florida Peninsula already an impressive trail of dirty tricks. And additional reporting since last year has made it clear the leakedMatrix records contain legitimate information. While some of the actions taken by FPL tick the boxes to reduce emissions, more can be done, Shober said. FPL has repeatedly denied any involvement in the "ghost candidate" controversy stemming from the 2020 election cycle, but Matrix records show the company's consultants were deeply involved. But Florida Power & Light is arguing rooftop solar could cost Florida utilities about $700 million between 2019 and 2025, according to documents submitted to the Florida Public Service Commission. Today, FPL said, two-thirds of its power comes from natural gas, followed by nearly 20% nuclear, 4% solar and almost 3% coal, which comes from a plant NextEra partially owns out of state. If this bill passes as it is, it has the potential to send Florida back to 2013, as if the advances of the last 10 years didnt happen, Vandenbroeck said. Many of the documents have since been verified by additional reporting, public records or Perkins himself. Jeff Weiner for the Orlando Sentinel contributed reporting, A moral imperative: how southern ministers are trying to change minds about the climate crisis, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. There are emissions associated with the electricity thats used to frack that gas as well as the local pollution issues, she said. Florida Power & Light spokesperson Chris McGrath said the company doesnt oppose net metering but wants to see the current law revised. In seeking ways to reduce carbon dioxide pollution particularly to address federal emissions goals that aim to stem the effects of climate change its natural to look at the high-emitting plants to find opportunities for efficiencies, said Dalia Patino-Echeverri, an associate professor at Duke Universitys Nicholas School of the Environment, who studies public policy design for energy systems. FPL bristled at the inclusion of its power plantson the list bythe website Find Energy, which aggregates and analyzes finalized government data on electricity companies. NextEra Energy said its political committee did not make its contribution to Bradleys campaign with an expectation of favor.. FPL emerged from that episode empty handed, a particularly punishing outcome in the world of investor-owned utilities, which are locked in a rat race to grow bigger or die. As you may know, Gera is NextEra Energys Vice President and Chief Litigation Officer. View MapReport Outage About FPL Company News Careers Environment Community Donate to Care To Share Rates and Your Bill That proposal was forwarded to Silagy at FPL but never came to fruition. 11:52AM. Ten days later, Heffley wrote Holley again. Im not afraid if the conclusion is its not the time to do this. In May 2018, FPL's sprawling. Drop a line athmorse@pbpost.com, call 561-820-4833 or follow her on Twitter@mannahhorse. She said the support she got from other teams was 'overwhelming. These customers are a mix of 88.48% residential customer accounts, 11.29% commercial customers and 0.22% industrial properties. Following up right after Ketchum's comments, Silagy said that his predecessors had held their roles for about a decade each, and that gearing up for another multi-year rate case with state regulators would mean he would have to stay until 2026. In other words, FPL's gas-fired plant produced almost 20% more power but with a third of the emissions as the coal-powered plant. This story is a collaboration with Floodlight. hide caption. The state senator went on to lose re-election by six votes. The company anticipates the panels will be able to generate 11,657 megawatts. [But] now we have this incredible corruption and a reversal of that because they are using their advantage to hang on to power and undermine democracy, he said. FPL has complained bitterly about the news coverage of the leaked records, and there is little indication its parent company, NextEra, is reflective about what the records have to say about the involvement of its largest subsidiaryandits highest-level executives. Here is why and how much, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. The last year of Silagy's leadership was marked by high natural gas prices; the global supply chain crisis; two disastrous hurricanes; and a barrage of damning media reports. them with making Rodrguez's life "a living hell.". Even some environmental advocates say the change is fair and necessary because of the fast rate of rooftop solar development in that state. Want more of our free, weekly newslettersinyourinbox? Within minutes, one of them forwarded the directive to the CEO of Matrix, LLC, a powerful but little-known political consulting firm that has operated behind the scenes in at least eight states. At least its not coal., The intent of the report was to highlight coal and the negative of coal and offer information that may be pertinent to those who live near the plants, Hope said. Pairing solar energy centers with battery storage, including the worlds largest battery in Manatee County. Matrix consultants had little regard for the professional press. It grew by 57 percent in 2020, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Consultants who control Grow United billed FPL for over $3 million before the entity started moving funds around for the election scheme. Headquartered in Montgomery, Matrix has been described there as the closest thing Alabama politics has to a non-governmental secret agency. McClure conceded the bill is not baked.. The complaint implicated Florida Power & Light in violations of election law due to alleged attempts to obscure the source of political donations. He noted that there is never a "perfect time" to leave. The solar industry companies that make, sell, install, lease and maintain rooftop solar equipment is fighting back fiercely, suggesting that the bill will devastate its business. Florida Power & Light is pushing for it as Floridas biggest utility it has 5.5 million customers, about 65 percent of the state. He was previously the chief financial officer for NextEra Energy and FPL and led NextEra Energy Resources, the parent company's renewable resources arm, for eight years. The warm light races across a 600-mile expanse of land and coast before finally brightening the Perdido River in Escambia County on Florida's western border. The firm later recovered more than a million files, according to Perkins, who said they reveal years of hidden, shadow work in Florida. While the utility has contributed over $105,000 to the Florida Democratic Party, neither Crist nor his political committee has reported any political contributions from NextEra or the companys subsidiaries during this or previous cycles. I just want to reach out and see if I could get an electronic copy of the net metering bill so I can put it into drafting.. I think they are doing their part. Added Patino-Echeverri: The No. We understand this may mean youll continue your campaign to smear FPL or our employees, FPL spokesperson David Reuter told us in the last communication between the company and our reporting team. Today, FPL said, two-thirds of its power comes from natural gas, followed by nearly 20% nuclear, 4% solar and almost 3% coal, which comes from a plant NextEra partially owns out of state.. In 2013, Terry Dunn, a Republican electricity regulator at Alabamas Public Service Commission made moves to hold formal hearings on how customers energy bills were calculated something that hadnt happened in three decades. I feel rooftop solar is beneficial to the environment, and Floridians. Matrix employees had a Jacksonville journalist spied on after he wrote critically about FPL. He has denied the allegations. For years, Florida Power & Light has been one of the largest contributors to legislative Florida political campaigns. and help keep the future of New Times, Use of this website constitutes acceptance of our. . But in the years that followed, FPL would loosen the grip of its dependence on oil-powered plants, including demolishing a 1960s-era Riviera Beach oil plant, with its memorable red-and-white smokestacks, and rebuilding it in 2014 as a natural gas plant. Methane is 25 times stronger at trapping heat than carbon dioxide, according to the EPA. Justin Vandenbroeck, the president of the Florida Solar Energy Industries Association who also owns an Orlando-based solar installation company, said the solar industry consists mostly of independently-owned small businesses. "Based on the information we have, we . Going through those tens of thousands ofrecords, he said, alerted him to the extent of work Pitts performed without his knowledge. NPR and Floodlight also reported in December that people working at Florida Power & Light's political consulting firm had paid a veteran ABC News freelance producer to try to trip up politicians who took stances opposed to the energy utility's economic interests. [] NextAmid Connections to Ongoing Election Scandals, NextEra Pours Millions into Floridas 2022 []. We are investing in clean energy because its the right thing to do for our customers. Carbon dioxide is the main greenhouse gas emitted by human activities, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, and electricity production accounts for 25% of the greenhouse gases emitted in the United States in 2019. Matrix was never accused of wrongdoing. DeSantis, who is attempting to build a populist profile ahead of a presidential run in 2024,has turned on FPL, having used his veto pen earlier this year to kill one of the utility's highest legislative priorities a controversial bill that would have limited the growth of the residential rooftop solar industryin Florida. Otherwise, DeSantis has been largely friendly to NextEra and FPLs legislative priorities, granting the utility $2.75 million in tax breaks on speculative green hydrogen, signing legislation that gave FPL permission to charge customers tens of billions of dollars for burying lines, signing legislation preventing gas bans that would have aided Florida City Gas, and also signing legislation that forced the resignation of utility critic JR Kelly from his leadership of the Office of Public Counsel, which represents ratepayers in rate cases. In the Southeast, power company money flows to news sites that attack their critics, She was an ABC News producer. Ive also.ccd Gera Peoples on this note. Over the course of DeSantis tenure, he used that veto power once to block an anti-rooftop solar bill written by FPL. For many years and without my knowledge or approval, Pitts abused his power and position to benefit himself and his cronies, Perkins said in a statement. Building 30 million solar power panels by the year 2025, a goal anticipated to be met five years earlier than planned, and paid for by ratepayers. During an investigation by this newspaper, as well as the Sentinel and Floodlight, FPL became at least vaguely threatening about our decision to continue reporting. And in 2020, Matrix even harnessed the power of the press for itself, when its employees acquired control of The Capitolist, a Tallahassee-based political news site which it used for favorable coverage, leaked records show. ", "We've heard (FPL parent company NextEra's) management assurances about internal investigations," the analyst,Angie Storozynski, wrote, but "any legal, political or regulatory inquiry into FPLs conduct would be highly damaging to the stock.". Three people were federally convicted for their role in the ploy. Under the leadership of Eric Silagy, 54, the company has been tied to allegations of campaign finance violations, media manipulation, and the surveillance of critical journalists. As a result of the current system, my constituents are being forced to subsidize the decisions of neighbors in other counties who are in a position to be able to put these expensive systems on their homes, Bradley said. The tactics worked. Matrixs principal, Perkins, says he discovered only after Pitts left the firm that he and other now-former employees had been conducting shadow activities and operations dating back to 2016. to documents submitted to the Florida Public Service Commission. The company bought an independently owned coal-powered plant in Indiantown in 2016 with the intent to close it, which occurred last summer. small-scale solar capacity in the state. In 2020,the plant generated 19.7 million megawatt hours of energy and had an emissions rate of 371.3 kilograms of carbon dioxide per megawatt hour. Dunn lost his 2014 re-election campaign by a 19-point margin to Chip Beeker, a catfish farmer who is still in office. Rooftop solar in Florida expanded slowly until 2018 when the Florida Public Service Commission allowed electricity customers to lease solar systems with little or no upfront costs. Florida Power & Light customers who paid $101.70 last year for a typical monthly bill of 1,000 . FPL consultants also used Broken Promises to boost a spoiler candidate in a 2018 state senate race in Gainesville, FL, according to previous reporting from Miami Herald. The Florida Panhandle is in revolt over bills that some FPL customers claim are double or triple what they were paying under Southern Company's stewardship of Gulf Power. Indeed, Find Energy also named NextEra Energy, FPLs parent company, as one of the top renewable energy producers in the country, with another one of its subsidiaries, NextEra Energy Resources, running solar and wind projects across the country. NextEras CEO called net-zero emission targets disingenuous without plans to get to real zero, according to reports. According to FPL, the plant also has the best available and most advanced emission-control equipment.. Pitts, who left Matrix in December 2020 to start his own firm, Canopy Partners, did not respond to a request for comment by deadline. Letsgetstarted. "It is a decision that is not easy, but I feel good about moving forward and doing it when the company is in its strongest financial and operational position that it's ever been in with a very strong leadership team.". Silagy, CEO since 2014, will depart the company in April. One of those Democrats,Sen. Jos Javier Rodrguez, happened to be both a prominent member of his party and an incumbent FPL particularly despised. Run by a former Rick Scott spokesman, Brian Burgess, The Capitolist often focused criticism not on powerful industry players or politicians but on individual journalists at publications like the Miami Herald, Palm Beach Post and Times-Union that had crossed the interests of one of the state's large corporations, like FPL. Two decades ago, the company was using more than40 million barrels of oil, the most of any electric utility, McGrath said. At the same time, getting to 100% elimination of greenhouse gas emissions for the energy sector is very hard to do with just renewables. And for that reason money spent in the present is almost always justified by the potential future: An election cycle might cost an investor-owned utility millions to meaningfully influence, but failing to do so could cost billions later. Its the right thing to do for our state.. Howard Crystal, an attorney for the environmental group Center for Biological Diversity, said that US utilities are allowed monopoly power because they are supposed to expand the public interest. Promote the @&;$&!!! Learn More About FPL News Company Careers Environment Community Donate to Care To Share Rates and Your Bill About Energy Energy My Way Ensuring Reliability Clean Energy Solar Electric Vehicles Power Disturbances Safety Partner Resources Supplier Home and Login PIC Login Taken together, the internal Matrix records depict a group of well-resourced executives and their enablers who have nurtured twisted views of theFirst Amendment and American democracy, and who have little hesitation over going to remarkable and troubling lengths to achieve their goals. FPLs CEO Silagy in a recent interview denied knowing about or participating in the scheme against Rodrguez but said that Matrix had done good work for his company. Any report or suggestion that we had involvement in, financially supported or directed others to support any ghost candidates during the 2020 election cycle is patently false, and we have found absolutely no evidence of any legal wrongdoing by FPL or its employees, McGrath, the Florida Power & Light spokesperson said in response to questions for this story. A note of gratitude to our friends at the Orlando Sentinel and Floodlight News, with whom we have worked in partnership to report our stories. Higher electricity bills welcomed millions of Florida residents into the new year. "We're not making a connection," said John Ketchum, CEO of NextEra Energy. The money was allegedly funneled through a network of tax-exempt nonprofits that obscured its origin. Customer Support. Leaked records in the possession of that consulting firm show that Matrix employees worked behind the scenes in cities across Florida for years to advance FPL's interests, sometimes going to extreme lengths to manipulate the political process in the utility's favor. Months after he was elected, Beeker voted in favor of an energy price hike for consumers. We're advancing solar energy in Florida and you can too with our solar programs. What we dont think about is gas has to be brought up from the earth. That gave Matrix consultants and FPL executives input on Capitolist stories. Halfway through 2022, however, FPL'sfortunes have markedly soured: The company that just a few years ago looked like it held Florida'sshimmering coasts in the palm of its hand now faces a futuredarkened by scandal, embarrassmentand uncertainty. More: Solar advocates push for last-minute changes to net metering bills, Solar center: FPL blows up its last coal-fired power plant; announces plans for its newest solar center, Electric bill goes up: Your next Florida Power & Light electric bill is going way up. Political editor Emily L. Mahoney will send you a rundown on local, state and national politics coverage every Thursday. FPL argued that it is more cost-effective to build a power plant than to invest in energy-efficiency programs because building codes and energy-efficiency standards in consumer products have improved. Matrix grew so large that by 2015 it was operating several private aircraft to whisk Pitts and Perkins to client meetings. Too, FPL has not set a goal to reduce its emissions to zero because we believe in setting measurable and achievable goals, McGrath said. The job was to be with a shell nonprofit created by Matrix employees that supported marijuana decriminalization and, on its face, had no connection to FPL. Holley, the Florida Power & Light lobbyist who delivered the net metering language to the Senate, worked to promote Republican Senate candidates in the close races. The financial entanglement between FPL and The Capitolist dated back to 2018, records leaked to the Miami Herald show, when an FPL vice president suggested the website publish a critical piece on DeSantis' Democratic opponent, Andrew Gillum. Florida Power & Light is pushing for it as Florida's biggest utility it has 5.5 million customers, about 65 percent of the state. A Democratic state senator was proposing a law that could cut into Florida Power & Lights (FPL) profits. For example, in documents obtained by reporters, Silagy had emailed two of his vice presidents to make a state senator's "life a living hell" after proposing a pro-solar bill. Once we realize the large emitters are large emitters because theyre providing service of great magnitude, and we look at it and we see its so efficient, we have our answer, Patino-Echeverri said. Developing a green hydrogen plant on the site of the former Indiantown coal plant. Florida Power & Light denied any wrongdoing related to political campaigns. The regulated monopoly is generally seen as a safe, stable investment, but there is some sign the recent public scrutiny could mushroom into a larger problem for FPL. Rick Scott.. Bloomberg/Bloomberg via Getty Images Duke has 2 million customers, followed by TECO with 800,000 and then many other smaller utilities. A Birmingham mayor who employed Matrix got 15 years for bribery, conspiracy and fraud. Landlords would be able to sell cheap rooftop solar power directly to their tenants. Ron DeSantis, approved FPLs rate hike, raising Floridians monthly bills by over $1.5 billion in the next few years with annual increases through 2025, while increasing FPLs profits. Pimentel will rejoin the company on Feb. 15 and work with Silagy until his departure. Investigative reporters have directly connected senior FPL executives, including CEO Eric Silagy, to consultants involved in the dark money campaign schemes. She likened it to comparing emissions from a personal car used once a week and a city bus that takes many trips. Another factor is promoting energy efficiency at the consumer level, Shober said. Big power companies operate as monopolies with captive customers in much of the south-east US. The negative is the immense amount of megawatts, but its a need for the community. Hannah Morse covers consumer issues for The Palm Beach Post. The list consists of 83 coal-powered plants, 16 natural gas plants and one plant that uses petroleum coke as its primary fuel type. Rooftop solar, while critical to fighting climate change, is a threat to the traditional utility business model. Burning natural gas results in about half of the carbon dioxide emissions of burning coal, which also releases harmful metals and gases into the environment. Discover Your Options Lights out? We may need some portion of our energy to still come from fossil fuels, because there are industrial processes that are hard to electrify, she said. A state board recently rebuffed a request from several Democratic lawmakers for an audit of Florida Power & Light's finances, which the representatives sought following reports linking the. And a former regional administrator for the EPA who did business with Pitts pleaded guilty to violating state ethics law multiple times. Thats not where the story ends, however, or the whole picture. 3:12. More:FPL seeks to raise monthly power bills for residental customers by 10%. Newman in his memo also took credit for a Miami Herald story about the allegation. A local law firm and the company that owned the coal plant used the charity to pay the representative. View dataset here. I think we see in the trend overall nationally is were not moving fast enough toward these cleaner sources as we clearly need to, she said. Duke has 2 million customers, followed by TECO with 800,000 . Currently, 5,779,202 consumers receive their electricity from the company. Miami's independent source of It is a regulated monopoly which means that the. Earlier this year, current PSC members, appointed by Gov. Florida Power & Light president and CEO Eric Silagy will retire this spring, the Juno Beach-based utility's parent company NextEra Energy announced ahead of an earnings call with Wall Street analysts on Wednesday. Florida Power & Light, one of the largest utilities in the country, abruptly announced the retirement of its chief executive after a tenure marked by strong financial returns, moves toward. The company says the move was not prompted by recent scandals. Florida Power & Light says the cost of subsidizing its 24,000 net-metering customers was $30 million in 2020 (about $1,250 per customer). And FPL is taking other public-relations hits that make the once-unstoppable company suddenly look more exposed:Earlier this month, for example,FPL uncharacteristically backed off a winter-hardeningproposal that critics alleged could have led to costly customer charges. In 2019, when the electric utility industry was up in arms about a constitutional amendment to open up competition in Floridas energy market, a Matrix-linked non-profit poured more than $10m into groups fighting it. That attack their critics, she was an ABC news producer covers consumer issues for the EPA most any. 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