New Report: Providence’s New Electricity Co. Tied to Millions to GOP to Block Shutoff Disclosure
Friday, March 10, 2023
A new report published in The Lever investigates how the new energy provider selected to provide electricity to Providence and six other Rhode Island communities funneled millions to Governor Ron DeSantis and Florida Republicans.
The Lever finds that NextEra and other energy companies flooded millions into DeSantis and the GOP to secure a critical policy change.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTThe Rhode Island communities who are opt-ing their business and residential customers into the NextEra offering are Barrington, Central Falls, Narragansett, Newport, Portsmouth, Providence, and South Kingstown are part of the program.
NextEra has been tied to a number of controversies.
$9 Million to Stop Shutoff Disclosures
“As more than $9 million in utility and utility-connected cash flooded the coffers of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ campaign and the state Republican party he controls, his appointees to a little-known body allowed utility companies to stop disclosing information about how they are shutting off the power for thousands of struggling Florida residents,” reported The Lever.
According to The Lever’s report, “In November 2021, Florida’s Public Service Commission (PUC) issued a memorandum allowing electric utilities to stop disclosing their shutoff data. The memorandum, which reversed the commission’s September 2020 decision to collect the data to track the pandemic’s effects on utility customers, came after DeSantis stacked the board with his appointees. The move came less than a month after commission members approved the largest electric rate hike in Florida’s history, resulting in a 20 percent increase in costs to residential ratepayers.”
“Now it’s impossible to know how many customers have been disconnected from their electric utilities for being unable to pay their increasing power bills. NextEra — the parent company of Florida’s largest utility, Florida Power & Light — disconnected 738,000 Floridians in 2021 and 1.1 million Americans nationwide since 2020, according to a report from Bailout Watch last month. If that disconnection rate continued, noted the report, NextEra would have shut off 1.2 million customers in 2022. But we do not know the total, because the DeSantis-appointed Florida PUC allowed them to hide the data,” writes The Lever.
RI Mayors: Smiley Defends, Rivera Refuses to Respond, Khamsyvoravong Concerned
GoLocal reached out to Providence Mayor Brett Smiley’s office who refused to answer GoLocal’s questions. His office tried to claim a differentiation between the Rhode Island subsidiary that is owned by NextEra.
That claim is false. The Rhode Island subsidiary is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Florida energy giant.
Newport Mayor Xay Khamsyvoravong said, “Securing more affordable and cleaner energy for our residents is, and has always been, the primary goal in our pursuit of developing an affordable and accessible community aggregation program. With that said, the recent headlines surrounding NextEra are certainly concerning, and we will do our part to monitor any and all practices that do not align with Newport’s values."
“Our primary focus is on the bottom line for Newporters as consumers, but we are closely monitoring for any and all activities that do not align with Newport’s values,” said Khamsyvoravong.
Central Falls Mayor Maria Rivera has refused to answer any questions about the selection of Nextera and the company's political activities.
Profits from Rhode Island Are Realized in Florida
The move by Providence, Central Falls, Newport and the other communities automatically pushes customers from their existing provider -- Rhode Island Energy -- to NextEra.
Customers can opt-out, but there continues to be little information about the program that begins in two months -- here is what we know.
According to The Lever, "Of the $9.5 million that has flowed into the Republican Party of Florida from electric utilities and their affiliated PACs since 2019, $2 million has come in in the past nine weeks, as DeSantis preps a widely-anticipated run for the presidency as the main GOP primary opponent to former president Donald Trump."
"In particular, NextEra and Duke are the two biggest electric-company donors to DeSantis and the Florida GOP since 2019. Duke has donated $4 million to the Florida GOP since 2019, while NextEra has given more than $2.2 million to DeSantis and the Florida GOP, according to a Lever analysis of state campaign finance reports," reported The Lever."
NextEra refused to respond to questions.
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