Attorney Mike Papantonio came on “Real News” on WCOA this morning to respond to state lawmakers who have blamed President Biden for Florida Power & Light’s rate increase. FPL customers have seen their electricity bills double – in some cases, nearly triple – over the past few weeks.
Papantonio laughed off the assertions that the Biden Administration caused the spike.
“Joe Biden is not exactly a rocket scientist,” said Papantonio. “He’s not the best president we’ve had, but to blame this on him is just beyond belief.”
He found fault with FPL’s parent company, NextEra. The attorney said, “They’re one of the biggest delivery companies of energy in the world. It’s $147 billion-in-asset company. They’re Fortune 500. I think maybe they’re somewhere around 100 on the Fortune 500 list. Last year, they made $17 billion. That’s what’s driving this.”
He continued, “There’s no hocus-pocus here. It’s just very clear. They want to make more money, and they don’t care who they roll over.”
Papantonio said his firm has no monetary benefit in trying to find relief for FPL customers, but Levin Papantonio Rafferty plans to expose the politics behind the rate increases.
“When it comes right down to it, we just have to dig in, and people need to understand this is not a mom-and-pop energy organization we’re talking about. This is one of the biggest in the world,” said Papantonio. “This is how they regard the world because they’re used to elbowing their way in and pushing around and spreading around big political money to get their way.”
He added, “Look, it’s paid off for them. These politicians, buddy, they’re jumping at their every beck and call. If NextEra comes in and starts spreading around money, these politicians say, ‘Yeah, we’ll take your money.'”
Should be BY non-solar users…
I, for one, cannot see how solar users being credited one-for-one with the retail price is “cross-subsidizing” non-solar users. At worst, it would seem to be a “break even” because the solar users’ excess is energy FPL does NOT have to buy from other commercial providers or generate themselves. To my logic it seems FPL wants to PROFIT from the excess energy generated by solar users by crediting at wholesale rates but selling it back to us, should solar owners use the credits, at the retail rate.
@alex Andrade
Who you get donations from matters only as a measurement of the actions you perform in your capacity as a representative.
Your actions in introducing this bill help no one but the people who are already winning, and makes it even more oppressive for the working class who are struggling. What is your justification for even backing this bill other than to make those donors richer (and, by proxy, yourself)?
Mr. Lewis, like many, neglects to mention that both I and Rep. Salzman have received more campaign donations from lawyers at Levin Papantonio. The argument that campaign donations happen in a vacuum and are transactional to the point of being corrupt is dishonest, if not completely ludicrous.
State Representative Alex Andrade (R-Pensacola) is the only co-sponsor of HB741 intended to gut the solar power industry in Florida to the advantage of NextEra. HB741 was drafted by Florida Power & Light. Andrade got his $1000 from NextEra Energy Political Action Committee on November 30, one day after State Representative Lawrence McClure proposed HB741. State Representative Michelle Salzman (R-Ensley) got her $1000 from NextEra Energy on December 6. On those same dates, Andrade and Salzman each also got $1000 from “American Flood Action PC” that doesn’t have anything to do with America or Floods. The PC is funded by a man in North Carolina on the Nuclear Energy Advisory Council and who like NextEra wants to “reform” – i.e. undermine – net metering. When people talk about state politicians being bought and paid for Escambia County is leading by bad example. Eager to see if Papantonio calls out Andrade and Salzman by name. Andrade is the city attorney for Milton. How embarrassing for that city.