"The way I look at it is it's a little earlier than I would have hoped Eric would have wanted to do it.". It was based on our discussion, and it was one that I could support as a starting point, she recalled. 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. ", "We've heard (FPL parent company NextEra's) management assurances about internal investigations," the analyst,Angie Storozynski, wrote, but "any legal, political or regulatory inquiry into FPLs conduct would be highly damaging to the stock.". January 25, 2023 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. While Matrix operatives quietly pulled strings for FPL, strife within their own firm boiled over. 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). The Find Energy report relied on data that is submitted by power companies to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. 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. In each of those cases, Matrix was working against politicians or policies fighting to curb the climate crisis by encouraging renewable power. 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. Run by a former Rick Scott spokesman, Brian Burgess, The Capitolist often focused criticism not on powerful industry players or politicians but on individual journalists at publications like the Miami Herald, Palm Beach Post and Times-Union that had crossed the interests of one of the state's large corporations, like FPL. Money from the company also covertly secured favorable media coverage, investigations by the Orlando Sentinel, the Miami Herald, the Guardian, NPR, and Floodlight found. 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. Bradley filed the bill in November. 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. 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. Follow him onTwitter@NateMonroeTU. FPLs consultants used similar spoiler candidate tactics in the 2020 election cycle in three senate races throughout the state. A dark money group associated with Matrix LLC mailed attack ads against South Miami mayor Philip Stoddard to area residents. In California, regulators plan to increase fees on rooftop solar customers. 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. Ricardo Rossello, governor of Puerto Rico, in Bayamon, Puerto Rico, as power was being restored to a neighborhood in February 2018, five months after Hurricane Irma struck the area. 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. It's easy to pay your bill, view your energy usage, manage your account and more. The charity was a front established by a state representative. 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." Indeed, the company's future looked bright. Developing a green hydrogen plant on the site of the former Indiantown coal plant. 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. The bill as it is written will decimate this industry.. 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 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.". This particular power plant ranked in the top third,alongwithcoal-powered plants, in thelist of 100 power plants across the country that belched out the most carbon dioxide in 2020, according to thereport by Find Energy. 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. That effort culminated with a Matrix employee signing an option agreement to purchase a controlling stake in The Capitolist in September 2019, the records show. Once we realize the large emitters are large emitters because theyre providing service of great magnitude, and we look at it and we see its so efficient, we have our answer, Patino-Echeverri said. 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. 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. 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. "We're not making a connection," said John Ketchum, CEO of NextEra Energy. Out of this, the FPL executive told Burgess, according to the Herald. Documents show Matrix operatives arranged for the commissioner to record a robocall in which she called Stoddard a creep. Still,plants with high emissions are going to draw attention in the overall effort to cut down ongreenhouse gas, experts say. 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. [] NextAmid Connections to Ongoing Election Scandals, NextEra Pours Millions into Floridas 2022 []. I feel rooftop solar is beneficial to the environment, and Floridians. In one case, at the suggestion of Silagy, FPL's CEO, Burgess included in a newsletter a photoshopped image of the Herald's Tallahassee bureau chief, Mary Ellen Klas, as a pauper begging for money. FPL has been ensnaredin public scandal over aggressive political tactics that Florida newspapers have laid bare since late last year. While the report contemplates the impact of fracking and transporting natural gas, it is not quantified. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License by Energy and Policy Institute. Drop a line athmorse@pbpost.com, call 561-820-4833 or follow her on Twitter@mannahhorse. 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. "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. 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. 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. 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. Florida Power & Light has also invested millions into groups with untraceable, anonymous donors that launched attacks on state and local politicians. This is a tired tactic that utilities have used to maintain their monopoly grip on electricity markets, said Will Giese, southeast regional director for the Solar Energy Industries Association. Its also up to us to push them more. Legislators pass legislation, she said. 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. Later that year, Floridianswould narrowly elect Ron DeSantis governor, the utility's preferred governing partner. Map showing route taken by Matrix LLC to oust Jose Javier Rodriguez from office. Big power companies operate as monopolies with captive customers in much of the south-east US. 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. Former FPL senior executive Armando Pimentel was named as Silagy's replacement. 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. View MapReport Outage About FPL Company News Careers Environment Community Donate to Care To Share Rates and Your Bill The fact that (West County Energy Center is) using natural gas is a plus, Matt Hope, chief operating officer of Find Energy, said inrecognizing that the report factors in a plants efficiency, but doesnt focus on it. 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. independent local journalism in Miami. And then apparently, somewhere along the way, Jeff and Joe got sideways, Silagy said. 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. One-tenth of 1percent of the power comes from oil. Those dark-money groups were controlled by former Matrix employees, the records show. 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. The proposed legislation could seriously curtail that growth. Commissioners said it was the highest response rate they had received on any issue and concluded that no immediate changes to net metering needed to be made. Within minutes, one of them forwarded the directive to the CEO of Matrix, LLC, a powerful but little-known political consulting firm that has operated behind the scenes in at least eight states. 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. 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. 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 we support organizations who had that mission.". All of that work was a closely held secret until recently. 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 The state senator went on to lose re-election by six votes. Burning natural gas results in about half of the carbon dioxide emissions of burning coal, which also releases harmful metals and gases into the environment. 1 factor to reduce greenhouse gases is the transition from coal to gas. 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. The company bought an independently owned coal-powered plant in Indiantown in 2016 with the intent to close it, which occurred last summer. small-scale solar capacity in the state. But Florida Power & Light is arguing rooftop solar could cost Florida utilities about $700 million between 2019 and 2025, according to documents submitted to the Florida Public Service Commission. However, those policies are coming under fire as utilities become. The nuclear project was part of what the group deemed a "record of failure," rhetoric that borea remarkable similarity to the talking points later used by the mayor and privatization supporters to justify selling JEA. In all races, the Republican won the election. Duke has 2 million customers, followed by TECO with 800,000 and then many other smaller utilities. Landlords would be able to sell cheap rooftop solar power directly to their tenants. Im not afraid if the conclusion is its not the time to do this. Later, in 2019, when JEA executives were preparing to announce their intention to put the agency up for sale, Matrix employees drew up another radical idea. 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. Meanwhile, groups aligned with the utility falsely tied Dunn to the Obama administrations efforts to reduce the use of coal. That proposal was forwarded to Silagy at FPL but never came to fruition. Customers, followed by TECO with 800,000 and then apparently, somewhere along way! Are going to draw attention in the overall effort to cut down ongreenhouse,. 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