How NextEra Energy Wielded Political Power in Florida

NextEra Energy is known in its home state, Florida, as a political force whose tactics have sometimes put it at odds with regulators, residents, consumer groups and news organizations.

Now, with a proposed takeover of Dominion Energy, it wants to become the nation’s largest utility and power company.

NextEra’s sharp-elbowed approach in Florida has spilled into public view in lawsuits and public documents. In 2023, a group of shareholders sued the company in federal court, claiming that its political activities put their investments at risk by causing a sharp drop in its stock price.

The lawsuit said NextEra or consultants it had hired might have violated election laws, spied on journalists and engaged in dubious tactics in an effort to acquire a city-owned utility. And the lawsuit questioned whether executives at the power company had been honest about those efforts.

NextEra has said it conducted two separate reviews of the claims that “concluded without findings of unlawful conduct.” And it argued that the shareholders had failed to show that statements by its executives “were made with intent to deceive or caused shareholders any losses.”

The District Court dismissed the lawsuit, but a federal appeals court reinstated it in November. The shareholders and the company have told the District Court that they expect to submit a settlement by June 15 for the court’s approval.

Some utility experts said NextEra’s political activities were likely to be scrutinized as the company sought approval for its $66.8 billion purchase of Dominion.

“I think there will be pushback,” said Eric Smith, associate director of the Tulane Energy Institute at Tulane University’s Freeman School of Business. “I don’t think the deal is going to fail, but certainly you’re going to see some real questions about it.”

NextEra, based in Juno Beach in South Florida, has about six million utility customers in that state, and Dominion, based in Richmond, Va., has around four million in Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina. The companies have said their deal would allow NextEra to better meet the growing need for electricity, driven in part by data centers.

“Electricity demand is rising faster than it has in decades,” John Ketchum, NextEra’s chief executive, said in a statement announcing the deal. “We are bringing NextEra Energy and Dominion Energy together because scale matters more than ever.”

In addition to regulated utilities in the four Southeastern states, the combined company would own nuclear power plants, solar farms, wind energy projects, power lines and gas pipelines across the country.

The deal requires the approval of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and regulators in Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina. The Justice Department’s antitrust division is also expected to review the acquisition. Regulators in Florida do not have the legal authority to review utility mergers.

Neither NextEra nor Dominion responded to requests for comment for this article.

NextEra has long had an extensive and sophisticated political operation. The company gave $1.9 million to federal campaigns in 2023 and 2024, more than any other investor-owned utility company, according to Open Secrets, a nonprofit that tracks money in politics. The company appears to have given roughly similar amounts to Republicans and Democrats.

It has also cultivated the Trump administration. NextEra was the only power company to donate to the construction of President Trump’s planned White House ballroom, according to a list of contributors the White House released last fall.

A NextEra executive was among the invitees to a dinner at the White House in October for donors who gave $2.5 million or more to the ballroom project. The company also donated $1 million to Mr. Trump’s 2025 inaugural committee.

Susie Wiles, Mr. Trump’s chief of staff, who was formerly a lobbyist and political consultant, worked as a consultant to NextEra’s subsidiary Florida Power & Light in 2019 as it sought to acquire JEA, formerly known as the Jacksonville Electric Authority, according to an investigation by the Jacksonville City Council into that $11 billion deal, which was not completed. Ms. Wiles was also working as a consultant to JEA around the same time, according to the Council’s investigation.

A spokesman for the White House, Steven Cheung, said that although Florida Power & Light had once hired Ms. Wiles as a communications consultant for a project, she had never represented NextEra and was not “attempting to elevate this company.”

“Anyone who works with Susie Wiles knows that she holds herself to the highest ethical standards,” Mr. Cheung said.

David Pomerantz, the executive director of the Energy and Policy Institute, a nonprofit group that has long tracked and been critical of NextEra, said its record should concern regulators and lawmakers in states where Dominion operates.

“NextEra’s playbook and history in Florida should make Virginians and South Carolinians terrified of this merger,” he said. Mr. Pomerantz pointed to the 2023 shareholder lawsuit, whose plaintiffs included two Florida public pension funds — the City of Hollywood Police Officers’ Retirement System and the Pembroke Pines Firefighters and Police Officers’ Pension Fund.

That lawsuit claims that in the 2020 election cycle a consulting firm hired by Florida Power & Light, Matrix, funded little-known candidates to derail the re-election campaigns of Democratic legislators. The candidates backed by the consulting firm were not the power company’s preferred choice but were expected to siphon votes away from the lawmakers. The aim was to improve the chances of candidates who favored easing state regulations on utilities.

Florida newspapers reported on the effort at the time, and some reporters said the utility’s consultants had subjected them to retaliation. Newspapers, including The Miami Herald and The Florida Times-Union, obtained records showing that the consultants had, among other things, hired a private investigator to follow and photograph the home and family vacation of at least one of the journalists.

The investor lawsuit also cited reports that NextEra had acted improperly when it tried to buy JEA.

That acquisition, which was opposed by members of the City Council and many residents, fell apart, and federal prosecutors brought criminal charges against some of the authority’s officials. Its chief executive was found guilty of conspiracy to embezzle municipal funds and wire fraud in connection with a sale of the municipal utility. He was sentenced to four years in prison.

The lawsuit said investors were concerned by news reports that some political consultants with ties to NextEra and Jacksonville officials had promised lucrative jobs to local elected officials if they supported the deal.

As part of its investigation, the City Council subpoenaed NextEra executives for records. Prosecutors did not bring any charges against the power company or its employees and consultants.

In January 2023, Wall Street began to grow concerned about Florida Power & Light because of the news coverage. That month, NextEra reported that its financial performance had fallen short of analysts’ expectations and that its chief executive for more than 11 years, Eric Silagy, was retiring, which surprised investors. The company’s stock price fell almost 9 percent in five days.

That stock decline led to the shareholder lawsuit. NextEra has said it never broke any laws or misled investors.

A federal judge, Aileen M. Cannon, dismissed the lawsuit in 2024, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit overturned her decision in November.

Consumer groups said that if NextEra was allowed to buy Dominion, the company would become even more formidable. They noted that most states employ small offices to represent residents in utility matters before regulators and lawmakers.

“Every time a utility gets bigger, it becomes much more of a challenge,” said David Springe, executive director of the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates, a professional group for those offices. “Consumer advocate offices are generally small and not funded very well.”

Kenneth P. Vogel contributed reporting. Susan C. Beachy and Kirsten Noyes contributed research.