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. Butone thing the leaked Matrix records make clear isthat more secrets remain on the firm's hard drive. Pimentel will rejoin the company on Feb. 15 and work with Silagy until his departure. 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. Its unfortunate that our process allows for something like this to exist without accountability.. 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. 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. to documents submitted to the Florida Public Service Commission. And a former regional administrator for the EPA who did business with Pitts pleaded guilty to violating state ethics law multiple times. Florida Power & Light has also invested millions into groups with untraceable, anonymous donors that launched attacks on state and local politicians. Out of this, the FPL executive told Burgess, according to the Herald. I looked at the language. Records show FPL trusted Matrix operatives with millions, including giving $14m to a single Matrix-run nonprofit in 2018 alone. 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. Hannah Morse covers consumer issues for The Palm Beach Post. Developing a green hydrogen plant on the site of the former Indiantown coal plant. They proposed offering a job to Garrett Dennis, a member of the Jacksonville City Council who had been outspoken against selling JEA. 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. In 2013, Terry Dunn, a Republican electricity regulator at Alabamas Public Service Commission made moves to hold formal hearings on how customers energy bills were calculated something that hadnt happened in three decades. That statement was made before additional rounds of damaging disclosures prompted the investigation by the outside law firm. Theyve got the lobbying power, and weve got the people power.. 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. 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. Ten days later, Heffley wrote Holley again. View dataset here. 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. 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. 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. Responding to dark money controversy, NextEra did internal investigation into FPL. Bradley is married to former state Sen. 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. Holley, the Florida Power & Light lobbyist who delivered the net metering language to the Senate, worked to promote Republican Senate candidates in the close races. "Based on the information we have, we . 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. Ketchum also reiterated that when he was named to the NextEra CEO role after Jim Robo stepped down, Silagy had committed to Ketchum that he would lead FPL for at least one more year. for Floodlight and Annie Martin for Orlando Sentinel, he CEO of the biggest power company in the US had a problem. 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. 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. Silagy is to be replaced by Armando Pimentel, a former senior executive at NextEra Energy. One person affiliated with Grow United is Abbie MacIver, who formerly worked for Energy Fairness, a group that encourages policymakers to consider the cost of energy choices, as well as their benefits. Last year, McClure sent a letter to state regulators at the Florida Public Service Commission citing the result and urging it to update its net-metering rule. Big power companies operate as monopolies with captive customers in much of the south-east US. Those who provoked the utilitys ire suffered a harsh response. Namely,how "clean" can, or should, an energy system be to make inroads in tacklingclimate change as the urgency heightens? 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. The proposed legislation could seriously curtail that growth. Landlords would be able to. This plant has been part of the solution.. It grew by 57 percent in 2020, DeSantis new election crimes office: 52 positions and unprecedented authority. 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.. She also was a corporate operative. 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 ", FPL lauds its reliability and maintains it has the lowest electricity rates in the country. 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. 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. Download the FPL Mobile App Now There are reasons to prefer alternatives that are not fossil-fuel intensive. Higher electricity bills welcomed millions of Florida residents into the new year. 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. 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. 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. Matrix employees spent heavily on political advertisements for a candidate with the same last name as Rodrguez, who split the vote. Miami's independent source of She likened it to comparing emissions from a personal car used once a week and a city bus that takes many trips. 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 . Letsgetstarted. So Florida Power & Light did something about it. 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. 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. 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. Over the course of DeSantis tenure, he used that veto power once to block an anti-rooftop solar bill written by FPL. 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. Ive also.ccd Gera Peoples on this note. 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. The Governor also has veto power over legislation that Floridas GOP-majority legislature passes. Rick Scott.. 2023 www.jacksonville.com. Silagy, the FPL CEO, says the pair initially told him they had come to an amicable agreement about parting ways. The issue extends to several states. 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 . We took a 1960s-gas guzzling Cadillac and we replaced it with a Ford Focus hybrid, McGrath said. Pitts in turn has accused Perkins of defamation and of leaking confidential records to the media. 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. So it's particularly jarring to have seen the facility land on a list of pollutingelectric plants that included plenty of old-school coal power plants. On Oct. 8, Bradleys legislative aide Katie Heffley emailed Holley with the subject line: Net Metering Bill., Good afternoon, Hope youre doing well, she said. In each of those cases, Matrix was working against politicians or policies fighting to curb the climate crisis by encouraging renewable power. 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. The bill is just one front in a decade-long battle against the policy. Matrixs influence was felt on matters small and large, from Stoddards city of less than 12,000 to statewide fights over the Florida constitution. With these facilities, FPL replaced inefficient 20th-century coal plants and weaned itself off foreign imported oil. 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. 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. NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik reported this story with Mario Ariza of Floodlight, a nonprofit newsroom that investigates the powerful interests stalling climate action. The effort to privatize Jacksonville's utility imploded in scandal and recrimination, prompting a two-year federal investigation that resulted in criminal charges against JEA's former CEO and CFO. McClure conceded the bill is not baked.. 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. Matrix employees had a Jacksonville journalist spied on after he wrote critically about FPL. Just as well, such a reliance on natural gas leaves consumers susceptible to the volatility of gas prices. 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. Switching from oil or coal to natural gas is a very important step, but thats not enough, she said, adding that carbon capture, utilization and storage technology must be considerationsto further reduce emissions. ABC News cut ties with the producer immediately following that report. We are investing in clean energy because its the right thing to do for our customers. Note: This story has been updated to correctly reflect Pimentel's prior roles. "We're not making a connection" between the reports and Silagy's retirement, NextEra CEO John Ketchum said on the earnings call. Alissa Jean Schafer is a research and communications specialist at the Energy and Policy Institute. The utility company also contributes to many Democrats and to the Florida Democratic Party. That candidate later admitted he was bribed to run. On the outskirts of Wellington, just before 20-Mile Bend, stands a behemoth of a power plant on a site as big as 166 football fields. Earlier this year, current PSC members, appointed by Gov. 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. We simply believe rooftop solar customers should pay the full cost of this investment, McGrath said. Records obtained by the Sentinel also show overlap between Grow United and previous campaigns to overhaul net metering. Former FPL senior executive Armando Pimentel was named as Silagy's replacement. It was based on our discussion, and it was one that I could support as a starting point, she recalled. Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Utility Front Group Advertisement Tracker, American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, Gas utilities push RNG and hydrogen to expand fossil fuel infrastructure, AGA uses millions of dollars from utility customers to promote a fossil fuel agenda, Internal documents detail how gas utilities greenwash RNG and hydrogen, Front groups and trade associations funded by gas utilities fight electrification policies, List of deceptive RNG and hydrogen projects, FirstEnergy CEO Steven Strah emailed about under the radar House Bill 6 provision that cost Ohio ratepayers millions of dollars. It's easy to pay your bill, view your energy usage, manage your account and more. FPL emerged from that episode empty handed, a particularly punishing outcome in the world of investor-owned utilities, which are locked in a rat race to grow bigger or die. And then apparently, somewhere along the way, Jeff and Joe got sideways, Silagy said. ', 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. As for Silagy's departure, Ketchum said, "It's a little earlier than Eric would've wanted to do it.". 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. Silagy's departure follows more than a year's worth of news investigations into his and FPL's connections to a "ghost candidate" scandal that saw unserious political candidates run in state senate races to siphon votes away from certain politicians. He noted that there is never a "perfect time" to leave. There were a lot of challenges that we successfully managed," he said. One of those Democrats,Sen. Jos Javier Rodrguez, happened to be both a prominent member of his party and an incumbent FPL particularly despised. FPLs consultants used similar spoiler candidate tactics in the 2020 election cycle in three senate races throughout the state. "It's a 24-hour day job. In all, the centerproduces enough electricity for 750,000 homes and businesses. 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. Hours later, a story like the one the executive pitched appeared on The Capitolist. 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. $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. 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. After more than a decade leading Florida Power & Light (FPL), the state's largest power company, Eric Silagy is retiring. Adding more rooftop solar is one way to cut down on emissions and make the grid more resilient, Shober said. Discover Your Options Lights out? Landlords would be able to sell cheap rooftop solar power directly to their tenants. 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. That growth has the utilities, and legislators, worried. The utility also launched a series of solar power investments, including the development of batter storage. 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. In one instance, leaked emails revealed Silagy even successfully suggested specific news coverage to one publication. FPL has long despised Klas' hard-hitting coverage of the company. [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. In the Southeast, power company money flows to news sites that attack their critics, She was an ABC News producer. Three people were federally convicted for their role in the ploy. 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. Fpl CEO, says the pair initially told him they had come to an amicable agreement about parting ways media. Prefer alternatives that are not fossil-fuel intensive coverage of the biggest power company the. 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