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. The commission held a workshop, which drew 16,000 messages from solar advocates urging it to leave the net metering program alone. 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. ![]() Records obtained by the Sentinel also show overlap between Grow United and previous campaigns to overhaul net metering. “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. Florida Power & Light denied any wrongdoing related to political campaigns. 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. 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.įlorida Power & Light CEO Eric Silagy was directly involved in steering funds to dark-money groups led by the consultants who controlled Grow United, the organization used to promote the ghost candidates, according to documents obtained by the Sentinel. “Net metering is a popular program that gives people the right to choose the energy that works for them, provides benefits to all ratepayers and creates thousands of energy jobs across Florida.”Īccording to reporting by the Orlando Sentinel, Florida Power & Light executives have been tied to a series of ‘dark-money’ nonprofits, one of which figures prominently in the Miami-Dade state attorney’s investigation into a scandal involving a “ghost” Senate candidate. “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. The solar industry - companies that make, sell, install, lease and maintain rooftop solar equipment - is fighting back fiercely, suggesting that the bill will devastate its business. Duke has 2 million customers, followed by TECO with 800,000 and then many other smaller utilities. Florida Power & Light is pushing for it as Florida’s biggest utility - it has 5.5 million customers, about 65 percent of the state. ![]() ![]() The proposed legislation could seriously curtail that growth. Only about 90,000 Florida customers, about 1 percent of the state’s more than 8.5 million customers, sell excess energy back to the electrical grid, but the arrangement has driven significant rooftop solar expansion in Florida. Lawrence McClure, R-Plant City, introduced an identical version in the House. Records from the Florida Senate show that Florida Power & Light drafted the bill, and lobbyist John Holley delivered it to Bradley, R-Fleming Island, and Florida Power & Light’s parent company followed up with a $10,000 contribution to her political committee.
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