Another political committee that supported Goston, the third-party spoiler candidate in 2018, has financial connections to a group that appears to have utility connections. The state recently joined New York and California in passing such laws, eliciting both support and pushback. One part of that is to convert gas-fired power plants to run on hydrogen. At NextEra Energy, we're committed to our core values of being committed to excellence, doing the right thing and treating people with respect. 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. 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 . 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. Artiles checkered past culminated with his resignation from office in 2017 after facing pressure over multiple scandals, including alcohol-fueled racial slurs directed at black members of the Florida Legislature. Its frustrating to see the Public Service Commission express no interest or concern in Floridas largest investor-owned utility company engaging in questionable smear campaigns and potentially illegal election activity while they increase rates, she said Wednesday. A day later, Public Service Commission chairperson Andrew Fay responded with an unequivocal rejection of their request, saying that the commission 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.. Last month, I attended a public hearing for a NextEra solar proposal in central Ohio, and I saw how several backers of the project talked about the companys involvement as a good thing. In 2017, Perry voted in support of NextEras exploratory fracking legislation while serving on the Communications, Energy and Public Utilities Committee chaired by Artiles. 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. We deliver climate news to your inbox like nobody else. offered a job that was arranged by consultants for FPL in an unsuccessful attempt to get him to resign from the commission. We deliver climate news to your inbox like nobody else. So, thats probably all that were going to say on that today.. 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. 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. But nobody brought up FPLs alleged skulduggery during the hearing. Were working hard to bring you the latest news from the states legislative session. In a Jan. 5 letter, they asked the commission to determine whether the company was using ratepayer money for political purposes. 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 third-party candidate in that race, Charles Goston, earned about 4,300 votes as an independent, despite being a lifelong Democrat. Consumers for Energy Fairness does not have a website or any public presence, but it spent over $5,000 with the public affairs firm McNicholas & Associates on beverages and food in 2019. Artiles has long-standing close connections with FPL, as previously reported by Energy and Policy Institute in 2020 and 2021. The company, which has its main office in Spain, is hinting at job cuts, as Isla Binnie reports for Reuters. It depends on how trustworthy community members find NextEra in the coming months and how that support affects any proposed clean energy legislation. He helped build NextEra Energy Resources and seemed to choose his retirement as opposed to being forced out, the former colleague said. 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. [], [] has not shied away from shady political dealings in the past. The industry leader for online information for tax, accounting and finance professionals. 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. 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. Browse an unrivalled portfolio of real-time and historical market data and insights from worldwide sources and experts. This is a very good deal for the climate.. 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. 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. 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). That's a tax rate of just 1.25 percent over that period, when the . Alvarados firm, Alvarado Strategies, was paid by three political committees with connections to Associated Industries of Florida (AIF), a corporate interest group with strong utility ties. 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. 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. Eskamani of Orlando said Baezs response left her unsatisfied. Real-time updates and all local stories you want right in the palm of your hand. Kirk Crews, CFO, NextEra Energy NEE -0.6%. There is no word on whether the internal investigationaddressed efforts associated with Operation Ginger., Copyright 2021 US TIMES NOW Cream Magazine by Themebeez, NextEra Energy (NE) is currently under investigation by the Florida Department of Law, SSD enabled fast speed data processing in Europe based VPS Server Hosting from TheServerHost, Ace DJ Artist talent DJ Nitin(NG) aka Nitin Gaikwad is Gaining Global Popularity As An Wedding DJ, Spotify is introducing a new and improved plus button in place of its heart icon, Palantir will eliminate 75 jobs or about 2% of the employees, Dr. Malda Aldaoudi consider Lifted Eyebrows and Fox Eye Lift as the latest trends. 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. JUNO BEACH, Fla. - FPL Group, Inc. (NYSE:FPL) today announced a settlement, subject to court approval, of derivative litigation filed by certain shareholders in the name of the company regarding change-of-control payments made in December 2000 in conjunction with the proposed Entergy merger that was approved by shareholders but not consummated.. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License by Energy and Policy Institute. 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. Inside Climate News uses cookies. The retirement and subsequent. For example, Richard Alexander, who lives in Cullman, Ala., and 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. 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. 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 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. 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.. About NextEra Energy NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NEE) is a leading clean energy company headquartered in Juno Beach, Florida. 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. The bill outlines a reduction to the credit, which would dramatically limit the number of people who could affordably lease or buy panels. So What Is Community Solar? 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.. If you liked this article, please donate $5 to keep NationofChange online through November. Community Solar Is About to Get a Surge in Federal Funding. 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. 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. Rodriguez has pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. The biggest user of the tax credit is Florida-based NextEra Energy, the nation's eighth-largest power producer. Access unmatched financial data, news and content in a highly-customised workflow experience on desktop, web and mobile. 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.. They remained that way until they took a stake in early wind farms in exchange for canceling the debts owed to them. On Wednesday, FPL spokesperson Chris McGrath denied that FPL was involved in the ghost candidate scheme. Im interested in what happened with FPL, but Im also looking at whether this cascade of revelations could harm the utilitys parent company, NextEra Energy, which happens to be the largest generator of renewable energy in the United States, and maybe the world. relationship with two political nonprofit committees Grow United, shown that as part of the ghost candidate scheme. Jane Marsh is an environmental and sustainability writer. as reported by the Energy and Policy Institute. 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. Entergy, which donated $10,000 to the Party and []. Banter reportedly followed Simpsons orders, using the FPL-originated funds to pay FrankArtiles, a lobbyist who was indicted in the scheme last year. Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau. 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. 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. By Mary Ellen Klas Where the scorpions on the corner just might kill you. 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. Energy Fairness played a role in setting up an attack on rooftop solar in 2020, via Florida Representative Lawrence McClure. Artiles has pleaded not guilty to the charges. They may have to wait until prosecutors investigate for answers, but Artiles history and ties to Florida utilities may provide some clues. In response to the stories, FPL has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. The company was trading well above its peers before news that Silagy would leave his post this month and depart the company in mid-May. They then asked the PSC to supply answers to a series of questions about FPLs political spending that included: How was the $14 million FPL spent in 2018 on a nonprofit called Mothers for Moderation used and was any of it passed to other organizations at FPLs direction or with FPLs knowledge?. The other candidate later revealed that he had been bribed to run. An internal NextEra investigation found no wrongdoing, executives on the company's latest earnings call said, adding that Silagy's departure was unrelated to any controversies. 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. The company was implicated in aghost candidate scheme in Floridathat ousted a climate advocate from state office. This decision flew somewhat under the radar, unlike the situation at Florida Power & Light. 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. 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. 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