NextEra wants to combine with Dominion Energy to make the largest energy company in the world. In the wake of legislative and customer pushback, a NextEra vice president spoke before lawmakers in Richmond Tuesday. And questions about the company’s involvement in Florida politics stood out.
The root of political interference allegations lobbed against NextEra comes from the so-called Robo Memo, named after the company’s then-CEO Jim Robo. According to NextEra VP Armando Pimentel, the memo came from an outside law firm following a dispute between employees at a company that worked with NextEra.
“That Robo Memo has a number of unsubstantiated allegations associated with it," Pimentel told the Energy Commission. "There are people who were incarcerated as a result of wrongdoing associated with allegations in that Robo memo. But no one at Florida Power and Light, NextEra Energy or the companies themselves were ever charged on any of those allegations.”
The incarceration referenced by Pimentel was former Florida Republican State Senator Frank Artiles pleading guilty in 2020 to election crimes, including hiring a ghost candidate to siphon votes from an opponent.
Notably the Virginia State Corporation Commission, granting a request from Clean Virginia, has asked NextEra to release that memo as part of the agency’s review of the massive merger. But Pimentel said ongoing litigation would limit its release to the public.
“We will try and provide information related to it for the folks who asked for it and for the SCC,” he said.
Fairfax-area Democratic Delegate Irene Shin led the questions about the Robo memo, and she isn’t pleased with the idea of a limited release.
“If it’s a company that has a track record of running ghost candidates or employing dark money groups, Virginians have a right to know who they’re getting into bed with,” Shin told Radio IQ after Tuesday's meeting.
The SCC set a Thursday deadline for the memo’s release.
