Florida Power & Light — BrandWiki

Florida Power & Light

Overview

Florida Power & Light Company

type	Subsidiary
industry	Electric power
founded	December 28, 1925
hq location	700 Universe Boulevard
hq location city	Juno Beach, Florida
hq location country	U.S.
num locations	98
num locations year	2022
area served	Florida
key people	Armando Pimentel Jr. (president, CEO)
services	Electricity generation electric power transmission electric power distribution
revenue	$18.37 billion
revenue year	2023
operating income	$6.59 billion
income year	2023
net income	$4.55 billion
net income year	2023
assets	$4.99 billion
assets year	2023
equity	$38.84 billion
equity year	2023
num employees	9,500
num employees year	2023
parent	NextEra Energy
website	fpl.com
footnotes	‡R1R‡

Florida Power & Light Company (FPL), the principal subsidiary of NextEra Energy Inc. (formerly FPL Group, Inc.), is the largest power utility in Florida.[2] It is a Juno Beach, Florida-based power utility company serving roughly 5 million customers and 11 million people in Florida.[3] It is a rate-regulated electric utility that generates, transmits, distributes and sells electric energy. In 2020, the company was ranked as the nation's most reliable electric power utility for the fifth time in six years.[4]

In January 2021, Gulf Power Company was merged into FPL, extending the combined service territory into northwest Florida. Gulf Power operated as a separate division within FPL through 2021.

FPL is a regulated monopoly.[2] It is one of Florida's biggest spender on political campaigns and lobbying

History

Early power stations in Florida were primarily used to manufacture ice and sell excess power during off-hours from manufacturing. By the 1920s, demand for power had grown sufficiently that the excess power produced by the ice plants no longer met the need. During 1924–1925, American Power & Light (APL) purchased power stations in Florida and connected them to provide more consistent power in the network. In December 1925, APL spun off its Florida properties into a new subsidiary, FPL, to replace the Miami Beach Electric Company. The following year, a hurricane hit Miami, damaging much of the electrical infrastructure. APL paid to repair the damage and build two new power stations. By early 1927, FPL had 115,000 customers.[5][6][7]

1950-2009

The company continued to expand its customer base and generating power, and in 1950 became independently listed on the New York Stock Exchange.[8] Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, FPL built new power stations, including Florida's first nuclear power plant at Turkey Point, which began operation in October 1972.[9] The company launched the Watt-Wise home energy audit program in 1978, designed to improve energy efficiency and reduce energy demand during peak demand.[10] In 1984, FPL created the holding company FPL Group for acquisitions and the creation of companies.[8] FPL became the first non-Japanese company to win the Deming Prize for quality in 1989.[11] In 1990, FPL Group began expanding its reach beyond Florida, purchasing a majority stake in a Georgia Power generation facility that year. Over the course of the next two decades, FPL expanded into the southern and eastern United States, creating a new holding group in 1998, FPL Energy, to manage the company's efforts in electricity markets outside of FPL's service area. It acquired a controlling stake in New Hampshire's Seabrook Station Nuclear Power Plant in 2002 and acquired Texas-based Gexa Energy in 2005. The company also launched the telecommunications subsidiary FPL FiberNet during this time. FPL's customer base reached 4 million in 2002.[8]

During the early 2000s, FPL began modernizing its power generation infrastructure, resulting in reduced emissions of flue gas, fuel costs, and oil usage; by 2013, the company was using fewer than 1 million barrels of oil annually.[12] In 2007, the company was the largest utility in Florida. That year, the Florida Public Service Commission rejected an FPL proposal to build a coal-fired power station near Moore Haven, Florida.[13]

At the end of the 2000s, FPL Group and FPL Energy rebranded and were renamed NextEra Energy and NextEra Energy Resources, respectively.[8]

2009-present

In 2009, the company started installing smart meters, which communicate with FPL via radio transmissions and provide alerts for outages.[14] The same year, environmental activists camped near the Barley Barber Swamp in protest of the closure of the swamp to public access. The activists claimed FPL was draining the area; the company denied the allegations and said it was working with state and local officials to reopen the area to the public. Seventeen protesters were arrested for trespassing and resisting arrest during the demonstration.[15]

In 2011, FPL fazed an old power station in Cape Canaveral, Florida, the outflow from which warmed the surrounding waters. Manatee migration patterns have been disrupted by power station outflows along the Florida coast and they are attracted to these outflow areas, including those from the Cape Canaveral plant.[16] Following the plant's destruction, FPL spent US$5 million to add pumps and heaters to the area to maintain the environment for the manatees while a new plant was built.[12]

Controversy

Critics of the company have accused the company of skirting rules, evading regulation by influencing politicians, and hiking rates on customers.[49] Some critics allege that the company's influence operations are illicit.[31] The company has been described as one of Florida's most politically powerful companies.[31]

According to records obtained by the Miami Herald and Floodlight, in 2021 FPL lobbied for a bill against net metering, the policy allowing rooftop solar panel users to offset the cost of solar panels by selling excess power back to utilities like FPL. Internal emails indicated that on October 18 an FPL lobbyist sent the text of the bill to Florida state senator Jennifer Bradley, who on October 20 received a $10,000 donation from FPL's parent company to her political committee, and a month later filed the bill in the senate. Bradley denied that the filing of the bill was due to the donation.[48][50]

According to the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting, several of the top utility companies in Florida, including FPL, have contributed over $12 million towards the election campaigns of state lawmakers since 2010.[51] FPL contributed $2 million to promote 2016 Florida Amendment 1, which would have preserved the monopoly of utilities on rooftop solar in Florida.[52][53]

In 2021, records obtained by the Orlando Sentinel tied top FPL executives to the political consultants responsible for the "ghost" candidate scandal, promoting spoiler candidates in key races in order to siphon off votes from Democrats.[2]

Documents reviewed by the Orlando Sentinel and the Miami Herald revealed that FPL executives used consultants and shell companies to funnel money to the local news website The Capitolist in order to get pro-utility articles and negative coverage about their political enemies published.[54] An investigation by National Public Radio and Floodlight News found FPL did so through consulting firm Matrix LLC, which also supported positive coverage for itself and FPL-friendly governor Rick Scott in Florida Politics and the Sunshine State News.[55]

Matrix surveilled a Florida Times-Union columnist at home and on vacation in 2019 and 2020, after he wrote critically of FPL's attempts to influence the Jacksonville City Council to approve its acquisition of a local utility.[56] Through a shell company, FPL offered one Jacksonville City Council member a $250,000 a year job promoting his pet issue of marijuana decriminalization on the condition he resign his council seat.[57]

FPL created a proposal to diversify its fuel sources by building a coal-burning power plant on 5000 acre in Moore Haven, Florida, near the western edge of Lake Okeechobee. After the National Park Service raised concerns that it would emit toxic mercury into the lake and also harm the Everglades, the state Public Service Commission rejected the plan in 2007.[58][59][60]

FPL proposed a severe winter weather plan that critics argued would create unnecessary costs for consumers, considering the unlikelihood of a severe winter freeze in Florida.[61]