NPR and Floodlight reported the same consulting firm did work in Alabama for that state's dominant energy utility, Alabama Power, and funneled money to news sites there that reported negatively on the utility's critics and regulators. 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 dataset here. And a former regional administrator for the EPA who did business with Pitts pleaded guilty to violating state ethics law multiple times. The complaint implicated Florida Power & Light in election law violations because of alleged attempts to obscure the source of the political donations. 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. That same year, a consultant told the Jacksonville City Council that taking JEA privatewould "likelyrepresent the largest and most complex" transaction of its kind in the United States. Customers at the time were paying some of the highest rates for electricity in the south-east. Ricardo Rossello,. Silagy, CEO since 2014, will depart the company in April. And the job was to come with one key hitch: To accept it, Dennis would have to leave his council position. One of Matrixs oldest clients is Alabama Power, which employed Perkins personal consulting firm as early as 1999. Can I bring it to you all later today? he wrote. Dunn lost his 2014 re-election campaign by a 19-point margin to Chip Beeker, a catfish farmer who is still in office. 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. In all races, the Republican won the election. 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. 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. and help keep the future of New Times, Use of this website constitutes acceptance of our. Newman in his memo also took credit for a Miami Herald story about the allegation. 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. Months after he was elected, Beeker voted in favor of an energy price hike for consumers. She likened it to comparing emissions from a personal car used once a week and a city bus that takes many trips. "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. The state senator went on to lose re-election by six votes. 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. 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. 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. The money was allegedly funneled through a network of tax-exempt nonprofits that obscured its origin. 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. 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. 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 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. Im hopeful this is a conversation starter but, at the same time, its really hard to have a conversation when you have a gun to your head. ', 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. I think we see in the trend overall nationally is were not moving fast enough toward these cleaner sources as we clearly need to, she said. Documents show Matrix operatives arranged for the commissioner to record a robocall in which she called Stoddard a creep. 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. Florida Power & Light CEO Eric Silagy Retires in Wake of Matrix Consultant Scandal Alex DeLuca January 25, 2023 11:52AM FPL CEO Eric Silagy (left) speaks with Gov. In 2019, when the electric utility industry was up in arms about a constitutional amendment to open up competition in Floridas energy market, a Matrix-linked non-profit poured more than $10m into groups fighting it. NeitherFPL executives nor the consultants identified in the secret records have been accused of wrongdoing in that investigation. In Florida, FPL and Matrix demonstrated how a utility and its consultants can work in tandem to resist clean energy reforms. Matrix employees had a Jacksonville journalist spied on after he wrote critically about FPL. FPL has acknowledged it received the idea but insists the company immediately rejected it. He added thatcarbon dioxide is emitted from burning natural gas, which isa fossil fuel, andis being created whether theyre scrubbing or storing it.. A Democratic state senator was proposing a law that could cut into Florida Power & Lights (FPL) profits. NextEra officials say that investigation is close to completion. Download the FPL Mobile App Now While the report contemplates the impact of fracking and transporting natural gas, it is not quantified. But wherever the pair went, indictments often followed. 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. Adding more rooftop solar is one way to cut down on emissions and make the grid more resilient, Shober said. 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). In one instance, leaked emails revealed Silagy even successfully suggested specific news coverage to one publication. Asked by Wall Street analysts during an earnings call on Wednesday whether Silagy's retirement was in any way prompted by those reports, the parent company's chief executive asserted that was not the case. The largest city served by the supplier is Jacksonville, but the company also provides electricity to 243 cities in Florida. In California, regulators plan to increase fees on rooftop solar customers. 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. Too, FPL has not set a goal to reduce its emissions to zero because we believe in setting measurable and achievable goals, McGrath said. FPL has a long history of spending to campaign against Crist, spending up to $1 million against Crists bid for governor in 2006 after contributing $225,000 to Crists opponent in the Republican primary the largest donation FPL had ever made at the time. Earlier this year, current PSC members, appointed by Gov. Bob Self/Florida Times-Union. Reported contribution totals over $100k as of September 7, 2022, from the Florida Division of Elections Campaign Finance Database. An Alabama governor the company worked for was convicted of federal felony corruption charges. To date, no FPL employees have been charged with any crimes. The bill is just one front in a decade-long battle against the policy. A short-lived organization called "Fix JEA Now" registered a web domain in 2017 and began making dramatic claims about the city-owned utility. FPL deployed lobbyists to the capital, while Matrix hired private investigators to dig for dirt and had operatives funnel dark money and order attack ads. That cost is based on the avoided cost that the utility would have incurred if it were to install a comparable system. 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. Indeed, the company's future looked bright. There was no question the company would be the leading bidder almost by default. 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. Along with a private investigator, the group delved into Stoddards past for episodes to weaponize against him, such as a South Miami commissioners claim on Facebook that Stoddard had forcibly kissed her. 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. Even some environmental advocates say the change is fair and necessary because of the fast rate of rooftop solar development in that state. 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. It backed a failed ballot amendment in 2016 that would have allowed regulators to impose fees and barriers to rooftop solar installation. As for Silagy's departure, Ketchum said, "It's a little earlier than Eric would've wanted to do it.". Drop a line at hmorse@pbpost.com, call 561-820-4833 or follow her on Twitter @mannahhorse. "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. $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. Electricity companies like Florida Power & Light make money off of the things they build: mainly large power plants and the power lines that bring that energy to customers. The 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. FPLs campaign contributions appear to be on pace with the utilitys political giving of over $8.1 million in the 2018 gubernatorial cycle. Those dark-money groups were controlled by former Matrix employees, the records show. He added that the net metering law has not been updated in 13 years and now is time to discuss it. 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. FPL's financials remain strong. He has denied the allegations. He is suing Pitts in Alabama for fraud and conspiracy. Artiles has been connected to Florida utilities, including NextEra and its subsidiary Florida Power and Light (FPL), for years. Its parent company, NextEra Energy, has commissioned two separate investigations - one internal, one by an outside law firm - following reporting by Florida newspapers, the non-profit news outlet Floodlight and NPR. 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. Records show FPL trusted Matrix operatives with millions, including giving $14m to a single Matrix-run nonprofit in 2018 alone. 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. That gave Matrix consultants and FPL executives input on Capitolist stories. 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. A spokesperson for FPL said it stopped working with Canopy in late 2021. 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