As such, it would seem the FPL plantsinclusion on the list is unfair. That candidate later admitted he was bribed to run. That proposal was forwarded to Silagy at FPL but never came to fruition. According to reporting by the Orlando Sentinel, Florida Power & Light executives have been tied to a series of dark-money nonprofits, one of which figures prominently in the Miami-Dade state attorneys investigation into a scandal involving a ghost Senate candidate. The money was allegedly funneled through a network of tax-exempt nonprofits that obscured its origin. That same year, a consultant told the Jacksonville City Council that taking JEA privatewould "likelyrepresent the largest and most complex" transaction of its kind in the United States. "It's a 24-hour day job. small-scale solar capacity in the state. Get the FPL Mobile App. Florida Power & Light has pushed back against efforts to bring solar panels to the Sunshine State, while runoff from the sugar industry is a major source of water pollution in Florida.. Its parent company, NextEra Energy, has commissioned two separate investigations - one internal, one by an outside law firm - following reporting by Florida newspapers, the non-profit news outlet Floodlight and NPR. In his Seeking Rents newsletter, publisher Jason Garcia called this decision: one of the most controversial decisions made in recent years by the PSC, a five-member panel comprised of four DeSantis appointees and one remaining holdover from former Gov. Get the latest updates in news, food, music and culture, and receive special offers direct to your inbox. One of Matrixs oldest clients is Alabama Power, which employed Perkins personal consulting firm as early as 1999. More:FPL seeks to raise monthly power bills for residental customers by 10%. Please provide us with the Personal Identification Number (PIN) that you were given for a co-browse session with our representative. FPL has also said an internal investigation ordered by its board of directors cleared the company's employees of any wrongdoing; it has also refused to provide copies of that investigation. Ive also.ccd Gera Peoples on this note. Early in the evening of Nov. 26, 2019, the Tuesday of Thanksgiving week, a political consultant working for utility giant Florida Power & Light sent a pair of confidential documents to an email . Florida Power & Light is the largest electric utility in the state, serving more than 11 million people across vast swaths of Florida. 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 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. 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. Ten days later, Heffley wrote Holley again. It ranks third among states for installed solar capacity, although much of that is large-scale, utility-owned solar. At the start of Monday's earnings call, Ketchum, the chief executive officer of NextEra, addressed media reports and the federal election grievance head-on. There are emissions associated with the electricity thats used to frack that gas as well as the local pollution issues, she said. Source: Orlando Sentinel Florida Power & Light execs worked closely with consultants behind 'ghost' candidate scheme, records reveal | Special Report By JASON GARCIA and ANNIE MARTIN ORLANDO SENTINEL | DEC 02, 2021 AT 9:46 AM Top executives at utility giant Florida Power & Light worked closely with the political consultants who orchestrated a scheme to promote spoiler candidates in three . In comparison, the top carbon-emitting plant on the list is a coal-powered one in Missouri that produced 16.5 million megawatt hours of energy but emitted almost 1,009 kilograms of carbon dioxide per megawatt hour less energy, but more emissions. NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik reported this story with Mario Ariza of Floodlight, a nonprofit newsroom that investigates the powerful interests stalling climate action. 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. Forgive me for being unserious at a time when companies like Florida Power & Light (FPL)the nation's largest utilitykeep racking up scandals, but it's kind of hard to keep track of the. Also, after reports that an outside FPL consultant had tailed a Florida Times-Union journalist who reported critically on the utility, Silagy sat down with reporters to deny that FPL had ever directed anyone to monitor him. A spokesperson for FPL said it stopped working with Canopy in late 2021. Thats not where the story ends, however, or the whole picture. 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. Under the scheme, a candidate with no political background was on the ballot as a no-party option in an effort to confuse voters and dilute support for the Democrat in the race, helping Republicans maintain their majority in the state Senate. Silagy, CEO since 2014, will depart the company in April. The governors office also comes with a bully pulpit and executive order authority, both of which DeSantis has used frequently, pushing his anti-woke platform on everything from school curriculum to state pensions, unilaterally suspending elected officials, and creating his own election police agency. But DeSantis election police agency has remained silent on FPLs connection to election scandals, criminal trials, and ongoing investigations, instead focusing on the arrest of 20 individuals who may have registered to vote while ineligible, despite allegedly being told that they were eligible to vote, and the states issuance of voter IDs. In Florida, FPL and Matrix demonstrated how a utility and its consultants can work in tandem to resist clean energy reforms. Southern Company and Alabama Power run the state of Alabama, Dunn said. 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. 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. 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 funds supported a total of five spoiler candidates in state senate and county commission races in 2018 and 2020, as well as efforts to foil a ballot initiative that would have deregulated Florida's energy market. 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. Florida Power & Light is pushing for it as Floridas biggest utility it has 5.5 million customers, about 65 percent of the state. Feds Plan to Seize Russian Oligarch's Luxe Fisher Island Properties, Miami Canal Flooded With Turd Water From Contractor-Involved Pipe Break, Collapse of "Let's Go Brandon" Meme Coin Sparks Billion-Dollar Court Battle, Gator Gets in on the Action at Tampa Bay Horse Race, Readers Warn of Traffic, "Bloodsport" Driving After. Soon, Dunn faced attacks in the rightwing press and online, while Matrix-affiliated groups some of which received millions from a non-profit run by a contractor for Alabama Power filed a motion to intervene in the proceedings. FPL consultants secretly took command, control of Florida news website, reports say, Surveillance records at the heart of a tangled mess between FPL and a former consultant, none more enticing than the city's century-old municipal utility, JEA, dispatching one of the few incumbents who was publicly critical of the company, resulted in criminal charges against JEA's former CEO and CFO, to kill one of the utility's highest legislative priorities, uncharacteristically backed off a winter-hardeningproposal that critics alleged could have led to costly customer charges, had this Times-Union columnist surveilled, orchestrated a financial takeover of a small Tallahassee-based political news site with a conservativebent, planting seeds intended to underminepublic confidence in the Jacksonville agency, offering a job to Garrett Dennis, a member of the Jacksonville City Council who had been outspoken against selling JEA, Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. Florida Power & Light says the cost of subsidizing its 24,000 net-metering customers was $30 million in 2020 (about $1,250 per customer). Still,plants with high emissions are going to draw attention in the overall effort to cut down ongreenhouse gas, experts say. The utility company also contributes to many Democrats and to the Florida Democratic Party. FPL is currently modernizing its plant in Dania Beach, expecting the new gas plant to come online this year, but doesnt anticipate building a new natural gas-powered plant in its 10-year outlook. F lorida Power & Light is an investor owned company. Pitts in turn has accused Perkins of defamation and of leaking confidential records to the media. At the same time, getting to 100% elimination of greenhouse gas emissions for the energy sector is very hard to do with just renewables. Silagy is to be replaced by Armando Pimentel, a former senior executive at NextEra Energy. An organization that acts like a mafia should be treated like one, Stoddard said.In a statement, Newman acknowledged managing the campaign against Stoddard and hiring a private investigator to look into the former mayors personal life. Do you need this bus to transport this many people, and do you need it to be this large? she asked hypothetically. The company says the move was not prompted by recent scandals. We are consistently one of the cleanest electric utilities in the country, FPL spokesman Chris McGrath said. They work off intimidating. Landlords would be able to sell cheap rooftop solar power directly to their tenants. 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. While the report contemplates the impact of fracking and transporting natural gas, it is not quantified. Electricity companies like Florida Power & Light make money off of the things they build: mainly large power plants and the power lines that bring that energy to customers. The company is making renewable energy investments, including: Patino-Echeverri said the utility industry as a whole is making strides to make its plants more efficient. 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. That growth has the utilities, and legislators, worried. Big power companies operate as monopolies with captive customers in much of the south-east US. In Perkins telling, he was getting ready to hand over leadership of Matrix in December 2020 when Pitts surprised him by leaving the firm, taking three employees as well as most of Matrixs Florida-based clients with him to launch Canopy. There were a lot of challenges that we successfully managed," he said. Florida is one of 47 states that allow households and businesses that produce power to sell it back to the grid at a set rate. The bill is just one front in a decade-long battle against the policy. Just as well, such a reliance on natural gas leaves consumers susceptible to the volatility of gas prices. Nate Monroe is a metro columnist whose work regularly appears every Thursday and Sunday. The plant ispart of a fleet of new-era power generators often cited by the state's largest utility as jewels in itstransition to modern, clean energy. The charity was a front established by a state representative. FPL deployed lobbyists to the capital, while Matrix hired private investigators to dig for dirt and had operatives funnel dark money and order attack ads. But wherever the pair went, indictments often followed. At the start of the Monday earnings call, Ketchum, the NextEra chief executive, directly addressed the media reports and federal election complaint. He is also suing Perkins, alleging defamation and extortion. Perkins has repeatedly denied leaking records, though he has verified the authenticity of numerous records underlying recent stories by the Times-Union, Orlando Sentinel and Floodlight, a nonprofit investigative news outlet. During his decade-long tenure as FPL chief, Silagy oversaw billions of dollars worth of power plant conversions from coal and oil to natural gas electric generation. They are supposed to be closely regulated, but their profits and unchecked political spending makes them some of the most powerful entities in a state. Newman in his memo also took credit for a Miami Herald story about the allegation. The commission held a workshop, which drew 16,000 messages from solar advocates urging it to leave the net metering program alone. 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. When the small south Florida citys mayor helped pass an ordinance in 2017 mandating rooftop solar panels on new construction, a network of 10 FPL-aligned operatives mobilized to ensure his ouster. 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. NextEra Energy said its political committee did not make its contribution to Bradleys campaign with an expectation of favor.. Silagy, who has been with the company for 20 years, has led FPL since 2011, having risen through the ranks by serving as chief development officer and senior vice president of regulatory and state governmental affairs. 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. Its unfortunate that our process allows for something like this to exist without accountability.. The team decided an effort to repeal the ordinance would probably fail. Crist has also criticized FPL on the campaign trail, calling the utility out for raising its rates on Floridians and criticizing FPL for attempting to block clean energy with anti-solar legislation. One of those Democrats,Sen. Jos Javier Rodrguez, happened to be both a prominent member of his party and an incumbent FPL particularly despised. The string of controversy spans nearly the entire Florida Peninsula already an impressive trail of dirty tricks. In one instance, leaked emails revealed Silagy even successfully suggested specific news coverage to one publication. 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. 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. An analyst at Seaport Global, a capital-markets firm, said recent reporting on FPL has "made us reassess FPL's risks" and that the research firm has "grown uncomfortable" with the "growing media scrutiny of FPLs lobbying practices against distributed solar and retail choice (deregulation), among others. Alabama Power still hasnt had a rate case. 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. 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. Companies do not pass legislation. Map showing route taken by Matrix LLC to oust Jose Javier Rodriguez from office. In each of those cases, Matrix was working against politicians or policies fighting to curb the climate crisis by encouraging renewable power. independent local journalism in Miami. Its the right thing to do for our state.. Florida Power & Light CEO Eric Silagy Retires in Wake of Matrix Consultant Scandal Alex DeLuca January 25, 2023 11:52AM FPL CEO Eric Silagy (left) speaks with Gov. "We're not making a connection," said John Ketchum, CEO of NextEra Energy. 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. Energy poles by Florida Power and Light from Turkey Point nuclear generating station in Miami, Florida. On Oct. 8, Bradleys legislative aide Katie Heffley emailed Holley with the subject line: Net Metering Bill., Good afternoon, Hope youre doing well, she said. But FPL was fixated on JEA; buying it would lock Florida's entire East Coast into FPL's service territory, another bold expansion of FPL's power. That is your choice, but rest assured, we will hold you accountable if that continues to happen. ", FPL lauds its reliability and maintains it has the lowest electricity rates in the country. With two months until voters elect the next Florida Governor, 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. Hannah Morse covers consumer issues for The Palm Beach Post. In all races, the Republican won the election. 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. The ghostcandidate controversy set off a wide-ranging criminal investigation by prosecutors in Miami, whosecured a guilty pleafrom the independent candidate in District 37 andfiled felony charges against Frank Artiles, a former Republican lawmaker accused of bribing the candidate to run. Many of the documents have since been verified by additional reporting, public records or Perkins himself. But advocates fear that a FPL-drafted bill to rewrite the states net metering rules will slowly chip away at the main financial incentive for homeowners and businesses to go solar. 2023 www.jacksonville.com. In May 2018, FPL's sprawling utility empire laid claim to both boundaries,reaching a pinnacle of power and influence rare even among the mega-corporations that call Florida home. Theyve got the lobbying power, and weve got the people power.. So they opted instead for Mayor Stoddards electoral defeat and changing the makeup of the board, according to a 2018 memo from Dan Newman, a Matrix contractor who was similarly involved in the campaign against Rodrguez. Florida now has the second-largest solar workforce in the country about 11,000 direct jobs and 31,000 indirect ones, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association. Join the New Times community and help support Former FPL senior executive Armando Pimentel was named as Silagy's replacement. Those who provoked the utilitys ire suffered a harsh response. Bloomberg/Bloomberg via Getty Images A Democratic state senator was proposing a law that could cut into Florida Power & Lights (FPL) profits. FPL has acknowledged it received the idea but insists the company immediately rejected it. Florida Power & Light CEO Eric Silagy announced his retirement on Wednesday. Header Image Credit: YouTube, 10 Tampa Bay. Maggie Shober, research director with the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, agreed that the report shows just one of many ways to look at emissions. Matrix affiliated groups have also worked to advance power companies interests in Arizona, Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, and in front of the Environmental Protection Agency, public records show. Ricardo Rossello,. These email records were provided to the Times/Herald and Floodlight by the Energy & Policy Institute, a watchdog organization that works to counter misinformation about renewable energy. 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. Still, there could be some benefit for consumers to be cognizant of a plants overall emissions, if its not the only factor being considered, she said. TALLAHASSEE Rooftop solar power generation in Florida is still a nascent industry, but Florida Power & Light, the nations largest power company, is pushing to hamstring it by writing and hand-delivering legislation the company asked state lawmakers to introduce, according to records obtained by the Miami Herald and Floodlight. In Florida, Matrixs work touched almost every level of politics, from influencing local mayoral and county commission elections to combating attempts to reshape the state constitution. Follow him onTwitter@NateMonroeTU. Here is why and how much. A Democratic state senator was proposing a law that could cut into Florida Power & Lights (FPL) profits. They proposed offering a job to Garrett Dennis, a member of the Jacksonville City Council who had been outspoken against selling JEA. Pitts at the time forwarded a draft of the script to two FPL executives. Pimentel will rejoin the company on Feb. 15 and work with Silagy until his departure. He is a former federal prosecutor with experience in public corruption cases.. We took a 1960s-gas guzzling Cadillac and we replaced it with a Ford Focus hybrid, McGrath said. 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. Currently, 5,779,202 consumers receive their electricity from the company. View MapReport Outage About FPL Company News Careers Environment Community Donate to Care To Share Rates and Your Bill He says he told them that he was disappointed, but there was enough work for both of them, based on the good work they had done. Knowing this may inspire consumers to seek out energy-efficient solutions in their own homes like LED lighting, efficient air conditioners or improving insulation and be more aware of the electricity they use, how they use it and perhaps use less. The company anticipates the panels will be able to generate 11,657 megawatts. "We're not making a connection" between the reports and Silagy's retirement, NextEra CEO John Ketchum said on the earnings call. Matrixs influence was felt on matters small and large, from Stoddards city of less than 12,000 to statewide fights over the Florida constitution. After an early round of reports, NextEra commissioned an internal investigation into the allegations against Silagy and Florida Power & Light in Florida. In May 2018, FPL's sprawling. 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. 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. The company says the move was not prompted by recent scandals. Even some environmental advocates say the change is fair and necessary because of the fast rate of rooftop solar development in that state. The Governor also has veto power over legislation that Floridas GOP-majority legislature passes. Net metering is a popular program that gives people the right to choose the energy that works for them, provides benefits to all ratepayers and creates thousands of energy jobs across Florida.. Two decades ago, the company was using more than40 million barrels of oil, the most of any electric utility, McGrath said. 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. NextEra officials say that investigation is close to completion. 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. While some of the actions taken by FPL tick the boxes to reduce emissions, more can be done, Shober said. 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. 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. Theres no time and its urgent, she said. View dataset here. But Shober saida missed opportunity is not factoring in methane emissions associated with the leaking of natural gas, from the production of the fuel to its use. What we dont think about is gas has to be brought up from the earth. The company provided The Palm Beach Post with 2019 data on emissions and energy production at power plants, including its own, which was in line with the source of the 2020 data used by Find Energy. Few examples are clearer than the case of South Miami. It grew by 57 percent in 2020, DeSantis new election crimes office: 52 positions and unprecedented authority. I am concerned that it will result in significant costs here, but I also dont want to destroy the rooftop solar industry in Florida.. A short-lived organization called "Fix JEA Now" registered a web domain in 2017 and began making dramatic claims about the city-owned utility. Silagy said the email in which he told his team to make Rodrguezs life a living hell was a poor choice of words. "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. McClure conceded the bill is not baked.. Bob Self/Florida Times-Union. The Find Energy report relied on data that is submitted by power companies to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. McGrath added that the companys move toward cleaner energy sources is a march, not a sprint.. This story is a collaboration with Floodlight. 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. One-tenth of 1percent of the power comes from oil. Katie Chiles Ottenweller, Southeast director for Vote Solar, an Atlanta-based advocacy organization, is optimistic but wary given Florida Power & Lights clout in the Florida Legislature and its role in drafting the bill. FPL has echoed Pitts' allegations and called into question the veracity of some of the leaked records, although it has repeatedly refused to provide evidence the documents have been altered in any way. , will depart the company on Feb. 15 and work with Silagy until his departure the bill not! To transport this many people, and weve got the people Power up the! On natural gas, it is not quantified help support former FPL executive. U.S. Energy Information Administration of South Miami in a decade-long battle against the policy clearer than the case of Miami! Already an impressive trail of dirty tricks a Miami Herald story about the allegation the time a... High emissions are going to draw attention in the country we will hold you accountable if that to! Will depart the company on Feb. 15 and work with Silagy until departure! Bribed to run us with the personal Identification Number ( PIN ) that you were given for Miami... 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