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. [] NextAmid Connections to Ongoing Election Scandals, NextEra Pours Millions into Floridas 2022 []. She also was a corporate operative. 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. 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. 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 . Bradley said she is open to discussing alternative models for her bill, including a system in use in the Carolinas to compensate rooftop solar customers who provide extra power for the grid when it is most needed, during peak hours. Its unfortunate that our process allows for something like this to exist without accountability.. Its parent company had initiated an investigation of related media reports there. Currently, 5,779,202 consumers receive their electricity from the company. This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: FPL CEO Eric Silagy to retire; Armando Pimentel rejoins company, FPL seeks to raise monthly power bills for residental customers by 10%, FPL CEO Eric Silagy to retire; Armando Pimentel rejoins company, Chicago Mayor Lightfoot ousted; Vallas, Johnson in runoff, King asks Duke and Duchess of Sussex to move out of Frogmore so Prince Andrew can move in, Biden Mocks Marjorie Taylor Greene With 1 Simple Hand Gesture, A Nebraska high-school cheerleader competed on her own after the rest of her squad quit. Rick Scott.. 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. The majority of Florida Power & Light (FPL) contributions have been to the Florida Republican Party, GOP committees and candidates, and political committees associated with corporate special interests. While the West County Energy Center ranked 29th on this list for emitting more than 7.3 billion kilograms of carbon dioxide in 2020, equivalent to emissions from nearly 1.6 million passenger cars, FPL is also correct when it says the facilityis among the most efficient power plants in the country. FPL's financials remain strong. In the remarkably successful years of its ambitious expansionism, secret records show FPL may have also been sowing the seeds of its more uncertain present. Southern Company and Alabama Power run the state of Alabama, Dunn said. The majority of Florida Power & Light (FPL) contributions have been to the Florida Republican Party, GOP committees and candidates, and political committees associated with corporate special interests. That month, FPL announced a planned purchase ofGulf Power, expanding its reach for the first time into the Florida Panhandle, and in the process snatching away a lucrative asset from regional rival Southern Company, which had owned Gulf since 1925. 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. The Matrix saga illustrates the political obstacles policymakers and experts face as they attempt to cut climate pollution from the power sector, one of the biggest greenhouse gas contributors in the US. What we dont think about is gas has to be brought up from the earth. In the Northeast corner of the state, a young, first-termRepublican mayor in Jacksonville was eager to solicit proposals to privatize city services none more enticing than the city's century-old municipal utility, JEA, one of the largest public electric, water and sewer utilities in the United States and a prize FPL had long sought. 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. Under Floridas current arrangement, homes and businesses that generate less than 2 megawatts of solar power can sell the excess back to their utility in exchange for a bill credit of 11 cents per kWh. Bloomberg/Bloomberg via Getty Images 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. In 1998, the firm distributed copies of a video in which a sex worker falsely alleged she had been sexually assaulted by a candidate for lieutenant governor. DeSantis appointees also allowed FPL to pocket over $1 billion in corporate tax savings instead of passing those savings on to customers. "The way I look at it is it's a little earlier than I would have hoped Eric would have wanted to do it.". A short-lived organization called "Fix JEA Now" registered a web domain in 2017 and began making dramatic claims about the city-owned utility. The company bought an independently owned coal-powered plant in Indiantown in 2016 with the intent to close it, which occurred last summer. In Florida, FPL and Matrix demonstrated how a utility and its consultants can work in tandem to resist clean energy reforms. In all, the centerproduces enough electricity for 750,000 homes and businesses. Added Patino-Echeverri: The No. 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. and help keep the future of New Times, Use of this website constitutes acceptance of our. The bill as it is written will decimate this industry.. Florida Power & Light has also invested millions into groups with untraceable, anonymous donors that launched attacks on state and local politicians. Upon realizing the extent of Pittss shadow operations and abuses of power, we filed our lawsuit against Pitts and those few rogue employees.. 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. A spokesperson for the company declined to comment on the firms activities. As you may know, Gera is NextEra Energys Vice President and Chief Litigation Officer. In 2020, FPL would help Florida Republicans keep control of the state Senate by contributing to several close races, in the process dispatching one of the few incumbents who was publicly critical of the company. NextEra officials say that investigation is close to completion. Too, FPL has not set a goal to reduce its emissions to zero because we believe in setting measurable and achievable goals, McGrath said. 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. "I think it took a toll," Ketchum said Wednesday of the multiple crises. FPL CEO Eric Silagy (left) speaks with Gov. 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. 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. They work off intimidating. Legislators pass legislation, she said. I just wanted to check in and see if you had any follow up information or language in regards to the net metering bill you discussed with Senator Bradley., Holley replied eight minutes later: I do. Such a turn in the political tidecould be particularly dire for a regulated company like FPL, whose literal fortunes rise and fall on the decisions made by the Public Service Commission appointees of the governor who must sign off on any number of high-stakes operational and financial issues for Florida's private utilities, starting with electric rates. View MapReport Outage About FPL Company News Careers Environment Community Donate to Care To Share Rates and Your Bill Many of the documents have since been verified by additional reporting, public records or Perkins himself. Two days later, Florida Division of Elections records show, Florida Power & Lights parent company, NextEra Energy, gave $10,000 to Bradleys political committee, Women Building the Future. Bradley filed the bill in November. Inat least one case, they had this Times-Union columnist surveilled, according to the secret records. 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. 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. It backed a failed ballot amendment in 2016 that would have allowed regulators to impose fees and barriers to rooftop solar installation. 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. He argued that customers with rooftop solar are being subsidized by other customers who continue to buy electricity and pay to maintain the power grid. The Find Energy report relied on data that is submitted by power companies to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Four other FPL natural gas plants also made the list, but are still ranked among the most efficient in terms of emissions per megawatt hour of energy produced. Records obtained by the Sentinel also show overlap between Grow United and previous campaigns to overhaul net metering. I looked at the language. The email was forwarded on to Silagy,though there is no indication the company seriously entertained Burgess' idea. Please provide us with the Personal Identification Number (PIN) that you were given for a co-browse session with our representative. The firm later recovered more than a million files, according to Perkins, who said they reveal years of hidden, shadow work in Florida. In 2015, Matrix distributed fliers for a suspicious charity in a predominantly Black neighborhood in North Birmingham. We're advancing solar energy in Florida and you can too with our solar programs. "When you think about all the challenges that he had to overcome, with the hurricanes and high natural gas prices and inflation and supply chain and, you know, the media allegations and all those things, I think it took a toll on Eric that year," Ketchum said during a question-and-answer session on the call. To date, no FPL employees have been charged with any crimes. The list consists of 83 coal-powered plants, 16 natural gas plants and one plant that uses petroleum coke as its primary fuel type. 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. Map showing route taken by Matrix LLC to oust Jose Javier Rodriguez from office. influencing local mayoral and county commission elections, a Miami Herald story about the allegation, graphic showing acquisition flow of The Capitolist, Graphic showing number of stops taken by Matrix private planes. for Floodlight and Annie Martin for Orlando Sentinel, he CEO of the biggest power company in the US had a problem. 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. 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. View dataset here. FPL has long despised Klas' hard-hitting coverage of the company. A dark money non-profit called "Grow United" is at the center of the scandal, with records showing direct communication with and invoices to FPL. 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 . Quick Links Start, Stop, Move Find My Account Number Pay Online Support Categories Billing & Payments My Account Start, Stop, Move Programs Business Customer Save Money & Energy Power Related Concerns Using FPL.com General Support Virtual Chat Most Common Links I want you to make his life a living hell seriously, FPLs CEO Eric Silagy wrote in a 2019 email to two of his vice-presidents about state Senator Jos Javier Rodrguez, who proposed the legislation. While the report contemplates the impact of fracking and transporting natural gas, it is not quantified. 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. Customers who are already using rooftop solar power before 2023 would be grandfathered in and keep their previous compensation rates for 10 years. 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. Moving Florida toward a brighter energy future. Reporting by the Orlando Sentinel and the Miami Herald tied Silagy to a group of political consultants who had spent millions of dollars to secretly further the power company's political goals. You always have to keep in mind what matters most is the rate (of efficiency).. 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. So Florida Power & Light did something about it. Before the prospect of JEA had even been formally proposed, Matrix employees were planting seeds intended to underminepublic confidence in the Jacksonville agency, potentially as early as 2017. Florida Power & Light customers who paid $101.70 last year for a typical monthly bill of 1,000 . The plan ultimately failed, and Stoddard was re-elected. Yet great amounts of power come at a price. 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. A week later, state Rep. Lawrence McClure, R-Plant City, introduced an identical version in the House. The media reports were cited in an October 2022 Federal Election Commission complaint against several of the "dark money" non-profit organizations that received corporate funds. one of the largest contributors to legislative Florida political campaigns, would have allowed regulators to impose fees and barriers to rooftop solar installation. "We could even do it stealthily so we could inject content into all those publications and nobody has to know who's actually pulling the strings," he wrote. [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. I feel rooftop solar is beneficial to the environment, and Floridians. 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. Burgess said he never pitched nor solicited feedback from FPL executives on any story or business venture, and FPL spokesperson Chris McGrath said acquiring a news organization would not have made sense as a business deal for FPL. One of Matrixs oldest clients is Alabama Power, which employed Perkins personal consulting firm as early as 1999. Florida Power & Light CEO Eric Silagy was directly involved in steering funds to dark-money groups led by the consultants who controlled Grow United, the organization used to promote the ghost candidates, according to documents obtained by the Sentinel. Florida Power & Light, whose work with dark-money political committees helped to secure Republican control of the state Senate in the 2020 elections, asked state Sen. Jennifer Bradley to sponsor its top-priority bill: legislation that would hobble rooftop solar by preventing homeowners and businesses from offsetting their costs by selling excess power back to the company, an arrangement known as net metering. 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. 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. That cost is based on the avoided cost that the utility would have incurred if it were to install a comparable system. 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. Perkins and Pitts sued each other, with Pitts claiming his former mentor had never followed through on handing over the company despite years of discussions. The West County Energy Center, first serving Florida Power & Light customers in 2009 before reaching its current capacity two years later, is a natural gas-burning plant. Hannah Morse covers consumer issues for The Palm Beach Post. Its the right thing to do for our state.. 3:12. In the Southeast, power company money flows to news sites that attack their critics, She was an ABC News producer. Perkins called Matrixs work for the utility confidential. Later that year, Floridianswould narrowly elect Ron DeSantis governor, the utility's preferred governing partner. 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. Here is why and how much. The negative is the immense amount of megawatts, but its a need for the community. FPL has already passed the $5.1 million total amount it spent in the 2020 cycle. Florida Power & Light denied any wrongdoing related to political campaigns. Newman in his memo also took credit for a Miami Herald story about the allegation. It grew by 57 percent in 2020, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. "And we support organizations who had that mission.". Florida Power and Light is launching a webpage dedicated to attacking the Miami Herald specifically Tallahassee bureau chief Mary Ellen Klas for its "biased" reporting on proposed . That statement was made before additional rounds of damaging disclosures prompted the investigation by the outside law firm. 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. The solar industry disagrees, pointing to research that shows rooftop solar penetration is low enough in most states that the effects of distributed solar on retail electricity prices will likely remain negligible for the foreseeable future.. An FPL spokesman, nonetheless, took issue with the Find Energy reportciting concerns over a general legal disclaimer on the website and the use of a misleading statistic of overall emissions rather than the emissions rate. The consultants pitched and supported tactics designed toembarrassindividualreporters who they believed had crossed their client's interests. 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. Just as well, such a reliance on natural gas leaves consumers susceptible to the volatility of gas prices. I think they are doing their part. The company's owner, Joe Perkins, and its former CEO, Jeff Pitts, parted ways in early 2021, becoming bitter enemies locked in legal battles in courtrooms in Alabama and Jacksonville. Matrixs influence was felt on matters small and large, from Stoddards city of less than 12,000 to statewide fights over the Florida constitution. A Democratic state senator was proposing a law that could cut into Florida Power & Light's (FPL) profits. 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. Another factor is promoting energy efficiency at the consumer level, Shober said. F lorida Power & Light is an investor owned company. 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. 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. (Neither Alabama Power nor its corporate parent, Southern Company, have commented on those disclosures.). Its CEO, Mark Crosswhite, stepped down in December. These customers are a mix of 88.48% residential customer accounts, 11.29% commercial customers and 0.22% industrial properties. "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. NextEra Energy said its political committee did not make its contribution to Bradleys campaign with an expectation of favor.. Developing a green hydrogen plant on the site of the former Indiantown coal plant. Our programs are designed to make paying your bill simple and manageable. 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. 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. "Based on the information we have, we . This story is a collaboration with Floodlight. The West County Energy Centeruses three combined-cycle generating units thatburnnatural gas in a turbine much like a jet engine and in turn usesthat exhaust to make a second power source of steam. 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. 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.. The proposed bill would allow landlords to sell cheap solar panels to their tenants. nears the finish line on new track at Freedom Field, Amazon's Daisy Jones & the Six Is the Latest in a Long Line of Embarrassing Portraits of Musical Genius. A local law firm and the company that owned the coal plant used the charity to pay the representative. Discover Your Options Lights out? 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. Bradley is married to former state Sen. 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. 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. Three people were federally convicted for their role in the ploy. We are consistently one of the cleanest electric utilities in the country, FPL spokesman Chris McGrath said. 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. Silagy, the FPL CEO, says the pair initially told him they had come to an amicable agreement about parting ways. Nate Monroe is a metro columnist whose work regularly appears every Thursday and Sunday. Ten days later, Heffley wrote Holley again. That is a fairly energy-intensive process in and of itself. 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. NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik reported this story with Mario Ariza of Floodlight, a nonprofit newsroom that investigates the powerful interests stalling climate action. Rooftop solar, while critical to fighting climate change, is a threat to the traditional utility business model. The company says the move was not prompted by recent scandals. The largest city served by the supplier is Jacksonville, but the company also provides electricity to 243 cities 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. Matrix employees had a Jacksonville journalist spied on after he wrote critically about FPL. From a public perception, maybe there is value in highlighting where our emissions come from, Patino-Echeverri said. 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. Even some environmental advocates say the change is fair and necessary because of the fast rate of rooftop solar development in that state. The non-profit, called Broken Promises, first donated the funds to a political committee called Consumers for Energy Fairness. Rodrguez was ousted from office in the next election. The utility also launched a series of solar power investments, including the development of batter storage. Records show FPL trusted Matrix operatives with millions, including giving $14m to a single Matrix-run nonprofit in 2018 alone. Comment on the Information we have, we, 16 natural gas plants and one plant that uses coke... 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