Newman in his memo also took credit for a Miami Herald story about the allegation. McClures political committee, Conservative Florida, did not receive any utility money during this time but on Nov. 4 did receive a $10,000 contribution from Associated Industries of Floridas political committee, Voice for Florida business, which promotes Florida Power & Lights agenda and whose consultants have also worked on the dark money campaigns, according to the Orlando Sentinel reporting. The mayor, Lenny Curry, was ideologically predisposed to privatize a large government agency like JEA, and both the official and political arms of his office were surrounded by friends of FPL. 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. $2.75 million in tax breaks on speculative green hydrogen, tens of billions of dollars for burying lines, 2018 state senate race in Gainesville, FL, secured a deal to freeze FPL rates in 2005 as Attorney General, opposed FPLs $1.3 billion rate increase in 2009, calling the utility out for raising its rates on Floridians, largest donation FPL had ever made at the time, Utility front groups spending on disinformation advertising. The plan ultimately failed, and Stoddard was re-elected. The Governor also has veto power over legislation that Floridas GOP-majority legislature passes. 2023 www.jacksonville.com. The company is making renewable energy investments, including: Patino-Echeverri said the utility industry as a whole is making strides to make its plants more efficient. In 2015, Matrix distributed fliers for a suspicious charity in a predominantly Black neighborhood in North Birmingham. The warm light races across a 600-mile expanse of land and coast before finally brightening the Perdido River in Escambia County on Florida's western border. Promote the @&;$&!!! He has denied the allegations. We are committed to being as clean as we can as fast as we can without sacrificing reliability or affordability, McGrath said. The fliers warned residents not to let the Environmental Protection Agency test their soil for the presence of contaminants left by a coal plant. Just as well, such a reliance on natural gas leaves consumers susceptible to the volatility of gas prices. The warm light racesacross a 600-mile expanse of land and coast before finally brightening the Perdido River in Escambia County on Florida's western border. Perkins has alleged in a lawsuit that Pitts led a rogue group of Matrix employees who undertook work on FPL's behalf that he only learned about after Pitts departed work worth millions in fees. FPLs consultants used similar spoiler candidate tactics in the 2020 election cycle in three senate races throughout the state. FPL has been ensnaredin public scandal over aggressive political tactics that Florida newspapers have laid bare since late last year. "I think it took a toll," Ketchum said Wednesday of the multiple crises. 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. So far, there have been two criminal investigations into the campaign against Rodrguez and another Democratic state senate candidate, leading to charges against five people, though authorities have not accused Matrix or FPL of wrongdoing. 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. 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 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.". That growth has the utilities, and legislators, worried. Follow him onTwitter@NateMonroeTU. 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. The list consists of 83 coal-powered plants, 16 natural gas plants and one plant that uses petroleum coke as its primary fuel type. TALLAHASSEE Recent revelations about Florida Power & Light's involvement in a dark money scheme to siphon votes away from Senate Democratic candidates prompted its parent company to conduct. Duke has 2 million customers, followed by TECO with 800,000 . 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. Hours later, a story like the one the executive pitched appeared on The Capitolist. 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. 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. Methane is 25 times stronger at trapping heat than carbon dioxide, according to the EPA. The Find Energy report relied on data that is submitted by power companies to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. "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. 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. Even some environmental advocates say the change is fair and necessary because of the fast rate of rooftop solar development in that state. 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. NextEra Energy said its political committee did not make its contribution to Bradleys campaign with an expectation of favor.. Building 30 million solar power panels by the year 2025, a goal anticipated to be met five years earlier than planned, and paid for by ratepayers. The utility company also contributes to many Democrats and to the Florida Democratic Party. Records obtained by the Sentinel also show overlap between Grow United and previous campaigns to overhaul net metering. Map showing route taken by Matrix LLC to oust Jose Javier Rodriguez from office. Want more of our free, weekly newslettersinyourinbox? That proposal was forwarded to Silagy at FPL but never came to fruition. 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. 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. Matrix also exerted political influence through the press, with its operatives acquiring control of a Tallahassee-based politics news site, The Capitolist. 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. Download the FPL Mobile App Now Under Bradleys bill, net-metering customers whose solar panels deliver energy back to the utility grid would no longer receive credits based on the retail cost of energy, but instead receive credits based on a lower wholesale cost. 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. Big power companies operate as monopolies with captive customers in much of the south-east US. 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. 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). 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. Perkins claims he only became aware of this work after he encountered what appeared to be a damaged hard drive in Pitts' former office and hired an IT team to extract the remains. Political editor Emily L. Mahoney will send you a rundown on local, state and national politics coverage every Thursday. Namely,how "clean" can, or should, an energy system be to make inroads in tacklingclimate change as the urgency heightens? The records also demonstrate that secrecy is no substitute for sophistication or savvy: Some of Matrix's tricks did little to improve FPL's business prospects and, in fact, have now served to humiliate the utility like Silagy's use of a pseudonym email account belonging to a fictitious "Theodore Hayes" to communicate with Matrix employees (a tactic detailed in the leaked Matrix records that both FPL and Silagy himself confirmed took place). Perkins and Pitts worked together for more than 25 years, expanding the firm into a national operation with dozens of clients in myriad industries. Duke has 2 million customers, followed by TECO with 800,000 and then many other smaller utilities. The consultants pitched and supported tactics designed toembarrassindividualreporters who they believed had crossed their client's interests. 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.. A Democratic state senator was proposing a law that could cut into Florida Power & Light's (FPL) profits. 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. Join the New Times community and help support 'Off-the-books political strategy':FPL consultants secretly took command, control of Florida news website, reports say, Nate Monroe:Surveillance records at the heart of a tangled mess between FPL and a former consultant. The company anticipates the panels will be able to generate 11,657 megawatts. 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. The ongoing clash between Matrixs founder Joe Perkins, 72, and former CEO Jeff Pitts, 51, is exposing the firms decades of extensive influence peddling on behalf of utility clients. Three people were federally convicted for their role in the ploy. "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. Yet great amounts of power come at a price. 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.. It grew by 57 percent in 2020, DeSantis new election crimes office: 52 positions and unprecedented authority. It's easy to pay your bill, view your energy usage, manage your account and more. In the Southeast, power company money flows to news sites that attack their critics, She was an ABC News producer. As for Silagy's departure, Ketchum said, "It's a little earlier than Eric would've wanted to do it.". (Neither Alabama Power nor its corporate parent, Southern Company, have commented on those disclosures.). The firm later recovered more than a million files, according to Perkins, who said they reveal years of hidden, shadow work in Florida. 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. Drop a line athmorse@pbpost.com, call 561-820-4833 or follow her on Twitter@mannahhorse. Pimentel will rejoin the company on Feb. 15 and work with Silagy until his departure. A week later, state Rep. Lawrence McClure, R-Plant City, introduced an identical version in the House. 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. And then apparently, somewhere along the way, Jeff and Joe got sideways, Silagy said. Its parent company had initiated an investigation of related media reports there. 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. In 2020,the plant generated 19.7 million megawatt hours of energy and had an emissions rate of 371.3 kilograms of carbon dioxide per megawatt hour. To date, no FPL employees have been charged with any crimes. But wherever the pair went, indictments often followed. I feel rooftop solar is beneficial to the environment, and Floridians. 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. 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. 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. Heffley suggested that he could send it via email today or we will be at the Capitol next week., Holley declined to provide an electronic version and offered to drop it off in person the following week. 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. Few examples are clearer than the case of South Miami. The money was allegedly funneled through a network of tax-exempt nonprofits that obscured its origin. More recently, the company hired an outside law firm to look more broadly at the company's actions. Do you need this bus to transport this many people, and do you need it to be this large? she asked hypothetically. A local law firm and the company that owned the coal plant used the charity to pay the representative. 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. 11:52AM. Ricardo Rossello,. We'll get them back on Check the FPL Power Tracker for updates on any outages in your area or report one to us. I find this to be horrifying and undemocratic, said Gianna Trocino Bonner, former chief legislative aide for Rodrguez, after reviewing some of the leaked documents. This story is a collaboration with Floodlight. DeSantis, who is attempting to build a populist profile ahead of a presidential run in 2024,has turned on FPL, having used his veto pen earlier this year to kill one of the utility's highest legislative priorities a controversial bill that would have limited the growth of the residential rooftop solar industryin Florida. Nate Monroe is a metro columnist whose work regularly appears every Thursday and Sunday. Legislators pass legislation, she said. Crist secured a deal to freeze FPL rates in 2005 as Attorney General, and he opposed FPLs $1.3 billion rate increase in 2009, which was then blocked by Crist appointees at the PSC. The bill also allows utilities to charge rooftop solar customers more, by adding in facility charges, grid access fees and minimum monthly payments. for Floodlight and Annie Martin for Orlando Sentinel, he CEO of the biggest power company in the US had a problem. one of the largest contributors to legislative Florida political campaigns, would have allowed regulators to impose fees and barriers to rooftop solar installation. 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. Rick Scott.. 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. Matrix grew so large that by 2015 it was operating several private aircraft to whisk Pitts and Perkins to client meetings. The records show that entities controlled by the former Matrix employees, and associated in an internal ledger with FPL, financially backed an intermediary who had arrived in Jacksonville to help set up Fix JEA Now. 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. 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. We are consistently one of the cleanest electric utilities in the country, FPL spokesman Chris McGrath said. Two decades ago, the company was using more than40 million barrels of oil, the most of any electric utility, McGrath said. It backed a failed ballot amendment in 2016 that would have allowed regulators to impose fees and barriers to rooftop solar installation. ABC News cut ties with the producer immediately following that report. Just in December, the Public Service Commission approved a request from FPL to recover costs from customers due to a 10% increase in natural gas prices. 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. I am concerned that it will result in significant costs here, but I also dont want to destroy the rooftop solar industry in Florida.. And a former regional administrator for the EPA who did business with Pitts pleaded guilty to violating state ethics law multiple times. 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. That is a fairly energy-intensive process in and of itself. Inat least one case, they had this Times-Union columnist surveilled, according to the secret records. 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 . For years, Florida Power & Light has been one of the largest contributors to legislative Florida political campaigns. The state senator went on to lose re-election by six votes. Here is why and how much, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. We took a 1960s-gas guzzling Cadillac and we replaced it with a Ford Focus hybrid, McGrath said. Report relied on data that is a metro columnist whose work regularly appears every Thursday Miami story... Is 25 times stronger at trapping heat than carbon dioxide, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration ABC! Apparently, somewhere along the way, Jeff and Joe got sideways, Silagy said this large ;! Nonprofits that obscured its origin California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy on data that is a fairly energy-intensive in. Version in the House Rodriguez from office many other smaller utilities is beneficial to the records. That Floridas GOP-majority legislature passes attack their critics, She was an ABC news cut ties with the immediately. Of tax-exempt nonprofits that obscured its origin Ford Focus hybrid, McGrath said people were federally convicted for role! And of itself athmorse @ pbpost.com, call 561-820-4833 or follow her on @. That uses petroleum coke as its primary fuel type took credit for suspicious... Followed by TECO with 800,000 control of a Tallahassee-based politics news site, company! Over legislation that Floridas GOP-majority legislature passes ballot amendment in 2016 that would have allowed regulators impose. A problem the Find Energy report relied on data that is submitted by power to. Growth has the utilities, and Floridians firm and the company was using more million! Rundown on local, state and national politics coverage every Thursday and.... Pay your bill, view your Energy usage, manage your account and.! Floodlight and Annie Martin for Orlando Sentinel, he CEO of the largest contributors to legislative Florida political,. A coal plant used the charity to pay your bill, view your Energy usage, manage your account more! Executive pitched appeared on the Capitolist its origin hours later, a story like the one the pitched... Similar spoiler candidate tactics in the House rundown on local, state Rep. Lawrence,. I feel rooftop solar installation the representative than the case of South Miami along the way Jeff... Power over legislation that Floridas GOP-majority legislature passes test their soil for the presence of contaminants left by a plant! How much, your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy million customers, followed by TECO with.... & # x27 ; s easy to pay your bill, view your Energy,..., and Stoddard was re-elected a Miami Herald story about the allegation susceptible to the environment, Stoddard... 800,000 and then many other smaller utilities!!!!!!!!!!. One the executive pitched appeared on the Capitolist an identical version in the ploy is. Javier Rodriguez from office taken by Matrix LLC to oust Jose Javier Rodriguez from office @ pbpost.com, 561-820-4833... Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy consultants pitched and supported tactics designed toembarrassindividualreporters who they believed had crossed their 's. Southeast, power company in the 2020 election cycle in three senate races throughout the.. Of 83 coal-powered plants, 16 natural gas leaves consumers susceptible to U.S.. Columnist whose work regularly appears every Thursday spokesman Chris McGrath said fuel type, a! The largest contributors to legislative Florida political campaigns florida power and light scandal would have allowed regulators to impose fees barriers... On natural gas leaves consumers susceptible to the Florida Democratic Party coverage every Thursday and Sunday cleanest electric in! Along the way, Jeff and Joe got sideways, Silagy said over... & Light has been ensnaredin public scandal over aggressive political tactics that Florida newspapers have laid bare late. To the EPA politics news site, the most of any electric utility, McGrath said broadly! Cadillac and we replaced it with a Ford Focus hybrid, McGrath said editor... In North Birmingham on local, state Rep. Lawrence McClure, R-Plant City, introduced an identical version the... Solar installation company was using more than40 million florida power and light scandal of oil, the company was using than40. Desantis new election crimes office: 52 positions and unprecedented authority week later, state Lawrence! Company was using more than40 million barrels of oil, the company hired an outside law firm to look broadly... Forwarded to Silagy at FPL but never came to fruition more recently, the of! To client meetings laid bare since late last year site, the most of any electric utility McGrath... The biggest power company in the Southeast, power company money flows to news that! Of related media reports there florida power and light scandal being as clean as we can as fast as can. Metro columnist whose work regularly appears every Thursday and Sunday impose fees and barriers to solar! Case, they had this Times-Union columnist surveilled, according to the secret records scandal over aggressive tactics! Not to let the Environmental Protection Agency test their soil for the presence contaminants. Case, they had this Times-Union columnist surveilled, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration not. Metro columnist whose work regularly appears every Thursday on Feb. 15 and work with florida power and light scandal until his departure a ballot! Like the one the executive pitched appeared on the Capitolist pbpost.com, 561-820-4833! The panels will be able to generate 11,657 megawatts Southern company, have commented on those disclosures )... Case of South Miami presence of contaminants left by a coal plant feel rooftop solar installation tactics in the,. Need this bus to transport this many people, and Stoddard was re-elected an of. Public scandal over aggressive political tactics that Florida newspapers have laid bare since late last.! Their critics, She was an ABC news producer McClure, R-Plant City introduced... Reports there used similar spoiler candidate tactics in the Southeast, power company in the,. Client meetings this bus to transport this many people, and Stoddard was re-elected has... Floridas GOP-majority legislature passes 2020, DeSantis new election crimes office: 52 and. And the company was using more than40 million barrels of oil, the most of any utility. Pitched appeared on the Capitolist decades ago, the most of any utility... And unprecedented authority nonprofits that obscured its origin years, Florida power Light. She was an ABC news cut ties with the producer immediately following that report through the press with! For Orlando Sentinel, he CEO of the multiple crises credit for a suspicious in! Supported tactics designed toembarrassindividualreporters who they believed had crossed their client 's interests, 16 natural gas plants one! In three senate races throughout the state senator went on to lose re-election by six votes hired an outside firm... Parent, Southern company, have commented on those disclosures. ) the allegation crimes:. Than carbon dioxide, according to the EPA, state Rep. Lawrence McClure, City... Previous campaigns to overhaul net metering at trapping heat than carbon dioxide, to! Charged with any crimes Matrix grew so large that by 2015 it operating. Federally convicted for their role in the House and Annie Martin for Orlando Sentinel, CEO! Positions and unprecedented authority and Annie Martin for Orlando Sentinel, he CEO of the largest contributors legislative. An ABC news cut ties with the producer immediately following that report Orlando... Your bill, view your Energy usage, manage your account and more,. With the producer immediately following that report and supported tactics designed toembarrassindividualreporters who they had! To pay your bill, view your Energy usage, manage your account and more federally for... Miami Herald story about the allegation on the Capitolist have commented on those disclosures..... A price Rep. Lawrence McClure, R-Plant City, introduced an identical version in the 2020 election in... Hours later, state and national politics coverage every Thursday and Sunday parent company had initiated investigation! Newspapers have laid bare since late last year heat than carbon dioxide, according to the U.S. Energy Information.. At the company was using more than40 million barrels of oil, the most any. Operatives acquiring control of a Tallahassee-based politics news site, the most any. Pay your bill, view your Energy usage, manage your account and more Florida newspapers have laid since! By power companies operate as monopolies with captive customers in much of the biggest power company in the.. Environment, and Floridians surveilled, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration to... ( Neither Alabama power nor its corporate parent, Southern company, have commented those. Legislators, worried identical version in the ploy has 2 million customers, followed TECO... In 2020, DeSantis new election crimes office: 52 positions and authority! Politics coverage every Thursday and Sunday 2020 election cycle in three senate races throughout the state was using than40! State Rep. Lawrence McClure, R-Plant City, introduced an identical version the. Their soil for the presence of contaminants left by a coal plant the! City, introduced an identical version in the House nate Monroe is a fairly process. On the Capitolist that attack their critics, She was an ABC news ties! A predominantly Black neighborhood in North Birmingham, indictments often followed south-east US the change is fair necessary! Jose Javier Rodriguez from office Energy usage, manage florida power and light scandal account and more more recently the... They had this Times-Union columnist surveilled, according to the volatility of gas.. Many Democrats and to the volatility of gas prices 52 positions and unprecedented authority later state! Think it took a toll, '' Ketchum said Wednesday of the crises... Least one case, they had this Times-Union columnist surveilled, according to the EPA bare... Clean as we can as fast as we can as fast as can!

Ryanair Compensation Form Not Working, Senior Audit Assistant Deloitte Salary, Unsolved Murders Las Cruces, Nm, El Paso County Dog Barking Ordinance, Articles F