NextEra Energy

In 1924, the holding company American Power & Light Co. began buying up smaller utilities and laying lines to build an integrated system, an effort that led to the incorporation of Florida Power & Light (FPL) on December 28, 1925.⁠[1]

Combining a number of earlier enterprises, FPL began with 76,000 electric and gas customers in 58 communities.⁠[2]

In 1950, FPL’s stock began trading on the New York Stock Exchange.⁠[2]

American Power & Light made FPL an independent public corporation, largely in response to a congressional act that limited utility holding companies.⁠[1]

In 1972, Turkey Point Unit 3, Florida’s first nuclear unit, came online under FPL’s operation. St. Lucie’s first unit entered service in 1976.⁠[2]

Today’s NextEra Energy, Inc. was incorporated under the laws of Florida in 1984, while FPL was incorporated under the laws of Florida in 1925.⁠[3]

In 1985, FPL went a full day without burning oil for the first time in its history. In 1989, it became the first non-Japanese company to win the Deming Award.⁠[4]

FPL Energy was established in 1997. The company’s first wind site, Vansycle Ridge Wind Farm, came online near Helix, Oregon, in 1998, and the Stateline Wind Energy Center was the largest wind farm in the world when it came online in 2001. In 2006, FPL Energy became the largest owner and operator of wind power in the world, and in 2009 it was renamed NextEra Energy Resources.⁠[5]

On October 25, 2006, FPL Group and Constellation Energy announced a “joint and amicable agreement to terminate their plans to merge.” Constellation Energy requested the termination because of regulatory and judicial uncertainty in Maryland and the possibility of a lengthy merger review. Its CEO, Mayo A. Shattuck, said “the risks and uncertainties were too significant to overcome.”⁠[6]

On May 21, 2010, shareholders approved changing the name of FPL Group, Inc. to NextEra Energy, Inc. “to better reflect the company’s scale as one of the largest and cleanest energy providers in the country.” Its New York Stock Exchange ticker changed from FPL to NEE at the start of trading on June 23, 2010.⁠[7]

On March 16, 2012, NextEra Energy announced that Lew Hay, CEO since June 2001, would step down on July 1 to serve as executive chairman until retiring at the end of 2013, and that Jim Robo would succeed him as CEO. Under Hay, the company became the largest U.S. generator of wind and solar power.⁠[8]

NextEra Energy Partners (NEP) was formed in 2014 to acquire, manage and own contracted clean energy projects with stable long-term cash flows through a limited partner interest in NEP OpCo.⁠[3]

NEP was later renamed XPLR Infrastructure, LP.⁠[9]

After the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission ordered the dismissal of their merger application, NextEra Energy and Hawaiian Electric Industries announced on July 18, 2016, that their merger agreement was terminated effective immediately. Under the agreement, NextEra Energy was to pay Hawaiian Electric Industries a $90 million termination fee and up to $5 million in transaction expense reimbursement.⁠[10]

On July 29, 2016, NextEra Energy entered into a merger agreement with Energy Future Holdings Corp. and Energy Future Intermediate Holding Company LLC. On July 6, 2017, the two gave NextEra Energy written notice terminating the agreement.⁠[11]

Before that, the Public Utility Commission of Texas had voted against the $18.7 billion Oncor deal at the end of March 2017 and formally rejected it in April, insisting on ring-fencing provisions that protected Oncor from its majority owner’s financial troubles. On May 8, 2017, NextEra Energy sought a rehearing, arguing that regulators had applied a “newly minted, more stringent standard.”⁠[12]

In 2019, Turkey Point became the first nuclear plant in the United States to get a license renewal for up to 80 years.⁠[4]

On January 1, 2019, NextEra Energy completed the acquisition of all outstanding common shares of Gulf Power from The Southern CompanySouthern CompanyThe Southern Company is an Atlanta-based energy holding company whose subsidiaries, including Alabama Power, Georgia Power, Mississippi Power, Southern Company Gas, Southern Power and Southern Nuclear, provide electricity and natural gas; it is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker SO.Open the full entry for approximately $5.75 billion, consisting of about $4.35 billion in cash and about $1.4 billion of assumed Gulf Power debt. Gulf Power served about 460,000 customers in northwest Florida and had about 2,300 MW of generating capacity.⁠[13]

In October 2020, NextEra Energy ended a trading day with a market value of $145.5 billion, above ExxonMobil’s $141.6 billion, having passed ChevronChevronChevron is an integrated energy company headquartered in Houston, Texas, United States, whose shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange (ticker CVX). Its history dates back to Pacific Coast Oil Co., founded in 1879, and it adopted the name Chevron Corporation after acquiring Gulf Oil in 1984.Open the full entry the previous month. Its shares had risen more than 20 percent that year, driven by its focus on wind and solar power.⁠[14]

On January 24, 2022, NextEra Energy began implementing its CEO succession plan: Jim Robo would cease serving as president and CEO on March 1, 2022, and become executive chairman, with John Ketchum succeeding him that day. Chief Financial Officer Rebecca Kujawa would become president and CEO of NextEra Energy Resources, succeeded as CFO by T. Kirk Crews II.⁠[15]

In April 2022, ESI Energy, a NextEra Energy subsidiary, pleaded guilty to three counts of violating the Migratory Bird Treaty Act after at least 150 eagles died at its wind farms in eight states. It faced more than $8 million in fines and restitution and a five-year probationary period. Rebecca Kujawa said: “We disagree with the government’s underlying enforcement activity.”⁠[16]

In July 2022, U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor asked the Justice Department to investigate FPL. The allegations held that Matrix LLC, a consulting firm once used by FPL, was central to “ghost” candidate efforts in three 2020 Florida Senate races. FPL called the documents “inaccurate and misleading” and said its internal investigation found no evidence of illegal wrongdoing.⁠[17]

In October 2022, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission alleging that FPL used Matrix-linked conduits to hide political contributions. In late February 2024, the commission deadlocked 3–3 and closed its file without finding reason to believe FPL had violated the Federal Election Campaign Act.⁠[18]

On October 27, 2025, NextEra Energy announced a 25-year deal under which GoogleGoogleGoogle is an American technology company founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin and incorporated in 1998. It became an Alphabet subsidiary in 2015. Its businesses include internet search, advertising, software platforms, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence.Open the full entry would buy power from the 615 MW Duane Arnold nuclear plant in Iowa, which could be operational as soon as early 2029. The plant shut down in 2020 after damage from a derecho. NextEra Energy agreed to buy the combined 30 percent interest of two power cooperatives to become sole owner.⁠[19]

In December 2025, NextEra Energy Resources applied to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to reinstate the plant’s operating license.⁠[9]

FPL has more than six million customer accounts. As of December 31, 2025, NextEra Energy and its subsidiaries employed about 17,400 people, including about 9,400 at FPL and 7,900 at NextEra Energy Resources.⁠[9]

NextEra Energy’s 2025 operating revenues were $27.412 billion, compared with $24.753 billion in 2024. GAAP net income attributable to NextEra Energy was $6.835 billion ($3.30 per share), compared with $6.946 billion ($3.37 per share) in 2024. NextEra Energy Resources added about 13.5 GW of new generation and storage projects to its backlog that year.⁠[20]

On May 18, 2026, NextEra Energy disclosed a May 15 merger agreement with Dominion Energy under which each Dominion Energy common share would receive 0.8138 NextEra Energy shares plus a pro rata share of $360 million in cash. NextEra Energy would keep Dominion Energy’s headquarters in Richmond, Virginia.⁠[21]

The deal was valued at about $67 billion, and the combined company would serve about 10 million utility customer accounts across Florida, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina. John Ketchum said: “We are bringing NextEra Energy and Dominion Energy together because scale matters more than ever.”⁠[22]

In the second quarter of 2026, GAAP net income attributable to NextEra Energy was $3.144 billion ($1.50 per share), compared with $2.028 billion ($0.98 per share) a year earlier. On July 15 the company had filed for merger approval with federal regulators and those of three states, and it expected the transaction to close in the second half of 2027.⁠[23]

At a special meeting on September 3, 2026, NextEra Energy shareholders approved issuing shares to Dominion Energy shareholders, with 99.47 percent of votes cast in favor, and approved increasing authorized common stock from 3.2 billion to 5.0 billion shares.⁠[24]

On the same day, Dominion Energy shareholders approved the merger proposal with 671,317,253 votes for and 8,566,156 against.⁠[25]