florida power and light scandal

You gotta bow down and kiss the ring.. 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. She said the support she got from other teams was 'overwhelming. 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. Pimentel will rejoin the company on Feb. 15 and work with Silagy until his departure. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License by Energy and Policy Institute. One-tenth of 1percent of the power comes from oil. 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. But Dennis, in an interview last year, recalled receiving a job offer with remarkable similarities to the one outlined in the internal Matrix documents. Media scrutiny of the company's political giving began shortly after the 2020 election, when a trio of spoiler candidates tipped close state senate races toward candidates considered friendly to Florida Power & Light. Its parent company had initiated an investigation of related media reports there. ", FPL lauds its reliability and maintains it has the lowest electricity rates in the country. And Burgess himself seemed to recognize it was an unlikely proposal, lamenting that "they are such douchebag newspaper people they added the poison pill to prevent ahostil [sic] takeover, even if it costs them hundreds of millions in stock value" (it's not clear in his email what the alleged"poison pill" is supposed to have been). 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, 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. 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. 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. Do you need this bus to transport this many people, and do you need it to be this large? she asked hypothetically. We are investing in clean energy because its the right thing to do for our customers. Im not afraid if the conclusion is its not the time to do this. Southern Company and Alabama Power run the state of Alabama, Dunn said. Rooftop solar, while critical to fighting climate change, is a threat to the traditional utility business model. "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.". He noted that there is never a "perfect time" to leave. 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 Records obtained by the Sentinel also show overlap between Grow United and previous campaigns to overhaul net metering. 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. We need to have the debate, he said. That statement was made before additional rounds of damaging disclosures prompted the investigation by the outside law firm. We are consistently one of the cleanest electric utilities in the country, FPL spokesman Chris McGrath said. Only about 90,000 Florida customers, about 1 percent of the states more than 8.5 million customers, sell excess energy back to the electrical grid, but the arrangement has driven significant rooftop solar expansion in Florida. one of the largest contributors to legislative Florida political campaigns, would have allowed regulators to impose fees and barriers to rooftop solar installation. "It's a 24-hour day job. Newman in his memo also took credit for a Miami Herald story about the allegation. In each of those cases, Matrix was working against politicians or policies fighting to curb the climate crisis by encouraging renewable power. Florida Power & Light is the largest electric utility in the state, serving more than 11 million people across vast swaths of Florida. 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. As their feud escalated, internal documents started to arrive in reporters email inboxes from unknown sources. 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. An Alabama governor the company worked for was convicted of federal felony corruption charges. 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. 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. "Based on information in our possession, we believe that FPL would not be found liable for any of the Florida Campaign finance law violations as alleged in the media articles," Ketchum said. Bob Self/Florida Times-Union. Reported contribution totals over $100k as of September 7, 2022, from the Florida Division of Elections Campaign Finance Database. 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 . Higher electricity bills welcomed millions of Florida residents into the new year. 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. Download the FPL Mobile App Now 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. 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. 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. Florida Power & Light customers who paid $101.70 last year for a typical monthly bill of 1,000 . Its the right thing to do for our state.. Florida Power & Light argues that arrangement is unfair to customers who dont generate their own power but continue to pay for the costs of maintaining the grid that rooftop solar customers also use. But the inclusion raises a complex but important question as 21st-century energy policy grapples with ways to further reduce carbon emissions as a climate-change doomsday clock continues to tick-tock. That growth has the utilities, and legislators, worried. In Perkins telling, he was getting ready to hand over leadership of Matrix in December 2020 when Pitts surprised him by leaving the firm, taking three employees as well as most of Matrixs Florida-based clients with him to launch Canopy. Responding to dark money controversy, NextEra did internal investigation into FPL. Promote the @&;$&!!! The plan ultimately failed, and Stoddard was re-elected. ', Death toll keeps rising in Greece's deadliest train crash, Westown Association announces Milwaukee Night Market dates, Embrace the everyday in UNIQLO's viral wide pants, FlyDubai announces record profit as Gulf air travel booms, Southeast's S.P.A.C.E. Out of this, the FPL executive told Burgess, according to the Herald. The string of controversy spans nearly the entire Florida Peninsula already an impressive trail of dirty tricks. However, those policies are coming under fire as utilities become. Many of the documents have since been verified by additional reporting, public records or Perkins himself. Headquartered in Montgomery, Matrix has been described there as the closest thing Alabama politics has to a non-governmental secret agency. 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. 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. 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. 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. All of that work was a closely held secret until recently. 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. Emails show that Bradleys staff followed up with Florida Power & Light after that discussion. FPLs consultants used similar spoiler candidate tactics in the 2020 election cycle in three senate races throughout the state. Ari Peskoe, director of the Electricity Law Initiative at Harvard Law School said the whole purpose of firms like Matrix is to conceal that its the utility doing this. The sites publisher, Brian Burgess, a former top spokesperson for past Florida governor Rick Scott, also suggested in emails that Matrix should lure prominent Florida journalists to a new site or buy local papers owned by media giant Gannett Company and then lay off most of the clown reporters to inject content into publications without anyone knowing who was pulling the strings. The Find Energy report relied on data that is submitted by power companies to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Companies do not pass legislation. Florida Power & Light has also invested millions into groups with untraceable, anonymous donors that launched attacks on state and local politicians. Two decades ago, the company was using more than40 million barrels of oil, the most of any electric utility, McGrath said. The Governor appoints members to the Florida Public Service Commission (PSC), the regulatory body responsible for overseeing utilities and determining their profitability, making influence over the Governors office critical to NextEras shareholders. This legislation allowed for Kelly to be replaced with a former utility lobbyist, Richard Gentry. Matrix grew so large that by 2015 it was operating several private aircraft to whisk Pitts and Perkins to client meetings. "JEA is broken," the group boasted on its website, where it posted Times-Union coverage of the utility's involvement in an over-budget, behind-schedule nuclear project in Georgia. A spokesperson for FPL said it stopped working with Canopy in late 2021. Money from the company also covertly secured favorable media coverage, investigations by the Orlando Sentinel, the Miami Herald, the Guardian, NPR, and Floodlight found. It is a regulated monopoly which means that the. A local law firm and the company that owned the coal plant used the charity to pay the representative. Even some environmental advocates say the change is fair and necessary because of the fast rate of rooftop solar development in that state. Rob Bradley, an influential politician who was head of the Senate budget committee. 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. In California, regulators plan to increase fees on rooftop solar customers. Later that year, Floridianswould narrowly elect Ron DeSantis governor, the utility's preferred governing partner. for Floodlight and Annie Martin for Orlando Sentinel, he CEO of the biggest power company in the US had a problem. 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 . ABC News cut ties with the producer immediately following that report. In one instance, leaked emails revealed Silagy even successfully suggested specific news coverage to one publication. 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.. That cost is based on the avoided cost that the utility would have incurred if it were to install a comparable system. Here is why and how much. 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. Note: This story has been updated to correctly reflect Pimentel's prior roles. 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. 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. Rick Scott.. 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. 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. COMMENTARY | Just a 14-minute drive from Florida Power & Light'sheadquarters in Juno Beach is the easternmost point in the state, where the sun's radiant light first cracks the night skyeach morning. 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. 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. 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. "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. 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. 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. The bill is just one front in a decade-long battle against the policy. 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. I feel rooftop solar is beneficial to the environment, and Floridians. That candidate later admitted he was bribed to run. Last June, Florida Power & Light spokesperson David Reuter wrote that the initial review had exonerated the company: "This detailed report found no evidence of illegality or wrongdoing on the part of FPL or any of its employees." Records obtained by Floodlight and the Orlando Sentinel show that Matrix consulted for FPL, as well as another Florida company, Gulf Power, and Alabama Power. "Based on the information we have, we . Upon realizing the extent of Pittss shadow operations and abuses of power, we filed our lawsuit against Pitts and those few rogue employees.. And an additional kudos to the Miami Herald for its own story on the latest batch of leaked Matrix records, which can be read here. A spokesperson for the company declined to comment on the firms activities. They work off intimidating. After an early round of reports, NextEra commissioned an internal investigation into the allegations against Silagy and Florida Power & Light in Florida. 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. That proposal was forwarded to Silagy at FPL but never came to fruition. Indeed, the company's future looked bright. 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. 0:00. 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. If were trying to look all in, theres a whole lot to consider upstream from just the burning of the fuel., FPLs McGrath said the Find Energyreport also doesnt tell the companys whole modernization story.. While the report contemplates the impact of fracking and transporting natural gas, it is not quantified. Matrix employees spent heavily on political advertisements for a candidate with the same last name as Rodrguez, who split the vote. Another factor is promoting energy efficiency at the consumer level, Shober said. 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. Letsgetstarted. The consultants working with FPL were at the center of Florida's 2020 "ghost" candidate scandal, which involved independent candidates in three state Senate races, including one in Central . For years, Florida Power & Light has been one of the largest contributors to legislative Florida political campaigns. More:FPL seeks to raise monthly power bills for residental customers by 10%. 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. Once he left, Pitts said Perkins smeared him to clients in an attempt to extort millions. Overall, McGrath said the modernization improvements have made their plants 30% more efficient, saved customers more than $11 billion in fuel and kept 165 million tons of carbon dioxide from being emitted in the atmosphere. 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. In 2015, Matrix distributed fliers for a suspicious charity in a predominantly Black neighborhood in North Birmingham. We took a 1960s-gas guzzling Cadillac and we replaced it with a Ford Focus hybrid, McGrath said. 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. 11:52AM. Ten days later, Heffley wrote Holley again. President and CEO of Florida Power & Light Eric Silagy speaks to the media after FPL imploded its last Florida . NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik reported this story with Mario Ariza of Floodlight, a nonprofit newsroom that investigates the powerful interests stalling climate action. 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. Maybe we should double down on energy-efficiency measures. These customers are a mix of 88.48% residential customer accounts, 11.29% commercial customers and 0.22% industrial properties. The non-profit, called Broken Promises, first donated the funds to a political committee called Consumers for Energy Fairness. The proposed legislation could seriously curtail that growth. 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. The email was forwarded on to Silagy,though there is no indication the company seriously entertained Burgess' idea. Artiles pleaded not guilty. He is suing Pitts in Alabama for fraud and conspiracy. Discover Your Options Lights out? F lorida Power & Light is an investor owned company. 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. 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. Silagy, the FPL CEO, says the pair initially told him they had come to an amicable agreement about parting ways. Those dark-money groups were controlled by former Matrix employees, the records show. Developing a green hydrogen plant on the site of the former Indiantown coal plant. 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. The charity was a front established by a state representative. 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. While the transition to natural gas has reduced emissions that would otherwise come from oil or gas, and installing utility-scale solar is an important step, getting to zero emissions takes a lot more than that, she said. Records from the Florida Senate show that Florida Power & Light drafted the bill, and lobbyist John Holley delivered it to Bradley, R-Fleming Island, and Florida Power & Lights parent company followed up with a $10,000 contribution to her political committee. 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. At the start of the Monday earnings call, Ketchum, the NextEra chief executive, directly addressed the media reports and federal election complaint. A Birmingham mayor who employed Matrix got 15 years for bribery, conspiracy and fraud. Get the FPL Mobile App. January 25, 2023 Silagy, CEO since 2014, will depart the company in April. Pitts at the time forwarded a draft of the script to two FPL executives. 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. To date, no FPL employees have been charged with any crimes. 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. Hundreds of pages of internal documents which are only coming to light now because Matrixs founders are locked in an epic feud detail the firms secret work to help power companies like FPL protect their profits and fight the transition to cleaner forms of energy. Months after he was elected, Beeker voted in favor of an energy price hike for consumers. 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. 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Under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License by Energy and Policy Institute Chris said! Aircraft to whisk Pitts and Perkins to client meetings ``, FPL lauds its reliability and maintains it the! Time '' to leave conspiracy and fraud records show critical to fighting climate,! A `` perfect time '' to leave time '' to leave in the country FPL. Damaging disclosures prompted the investigation by the outside law firm and the in! Entertained Burgess ' idea fraud and conspiracy 15 years for bribery, conspiracy and fraud Energy report relied data. Arrive in reporters email inboxes from unknown sources $ 100k as of September 7, 2022, the... Sentinel, he said battle against the Policy its the right thing to do for customers! One front in a predominantly Black neighborhood in North Birmingham the records show the plan ultimately,. An attempt to extort millions of Florida residents into the new year Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License by and... 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