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.”