JUNO BEACH, Fla., Oct. 12, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- NextEra
Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NEE) is investing billions of dollars annually
to help create a clean energy future sustainably and responsibly.
As a result, the company generated more electricity from the wind
and sun than any other company in the world last year. In its 2015
corporate responsibility report, released recently at
www.NextEraEnergy.com/crr, NextEra Energy details how it is meeting
customer and community needs, providing a safe, healthy and
challenging work environment for employees, and delivering strong
financial results.
"Whether it's providing affordable and reliable electricity to
more than 9 million Floridians or helping utilities and other
customers outside of Florida meet their energy goals, our team is
working day in and day out to build a clean energy future," said
Jim Robo, chairman and chief
executive officer of NextEra Energy. "With sustainability and
corporate responsibility as core elements of our business strategy,
we look for innovative ways to solve America's energy challenges by
increasing the use of renewable energy sources, modernizing
infrastructure, protecting the environment, and delivering value
for our customers, our communities, our employees and our
shareholders."
Among the recent achievements detailed in the company's 2015
report are:
NextEra Energy continues to grow its clean energy
leadership.
- NextEra Energy Resources, LLC, the company's competitive
generation subsidiary, installed more than 1,600 megawatts of
emissions-free wind and solar power in 2014, making last year its
strongest year ever for new renewable energy capacity placed into
service.
- The company's emissions-free nuclear power plants in four
states safely generated enough energy last year to power 5 million
homes.
- NextEra Energy also continued to invest in transmission lines
and other critical infrastructure to ensure the future reliability
of the electric grid.
NextEra Energy operates in an environmentally responsible
manner.
- Nearly all the power NextEra Energy generated in 2014 was from
clean or renewable sources, including wind, solar, natural gas and
nuclear energy.
- Nearly 99 percent of the water the company withdraws for use in
power generation is returned to its original source.
- Where it has operations, the company helps protect wildlife
species, including monitoring sea turtles and manatees in
Florida, installing eagle nesting
platforms in Ontario, Canada, and
supporting habitat conservation research in the Midwest and Great
Plains.
NextEra Energy delivers superior value to its
customers.
- FPL, the company's rate-regulated electric utility, delivered
99.98 percent service reliability in 2014, and continues to invest
in advanced smart grid technology to improve service even
more.
- FPL's typical 1,000-kWh residential customer bill is about 30
percent lower than the national average and the lowest in the state
of Florida among reporting utilities.
- The cumulative effect of FPL's energy efficiency programs since
1981 − including 3.5 million residential home energy surveys and
200,000 business energy evaluations − has reduced electricity
demand equivalent to the generation capacity of 14 medium-sized
power plants.
- NextEra Energy Resources is helping a variety of utilities and
other customers meet their renewable energy goals. As of
June 2015, 29 states and the
District of Columbia had mandates
requiring electricity providers meet a certain percentage of their
retail sales with energy from renewable sources.
NextEra Energy is helping communities thrive.
- NextEra Energy and its employees made $7
million in charitable contributions in 2014, while employees
volunteered more than 54,000 hours of community service and served
on more than 200 boards of directors of nonprofit
organizations.
- The company invested $7 billion
across a wide range of capital projects in 2014, creating good jobs
and supporting schools, emergency services and other community
needs through more than $500 million
in tax payments.
- The company equipped teachers in Florida to help young people learn science,
technology, engineering and math (STEM), and invested in education
programs in California,
Texas and Michigan, as well as in Canada.
NextEra Energy cultivates a high performance organization
that focuses on safety, health, continuous learning and
teamwork.
- The company's OSHA safety performance rate in 2014 was 75
percent lower than in 2005.
- NextEra Energy again was honored as a Best Employer for
Healthy Lifestyles® for its effective workplace well-being
programs.
- More than 1,200 employees are actively engaged in 11 employee
resource groups − organizations that allow employees to interact
with colleagues with similar interests, develop their careers,
learn new skills, get involved in the community, and help make the
company more adaptable and more reflective of its customer
base.
NextEra Energy delivers strong financial performance.
- The company generated a total shareholder return of 300 percent
for the 10 years ended Dec. 31, 2014,
nearly triple the 109 percent recorded by the S&P 500 Index
over that period.
- During that same period, NextEra Energy generated an 8.4
percent compound annual growth rate in dividends per share.
NextEra Energy's Corporate Responsibility Report also provides a
detailed compendium of the company's initiatives and performance on
corporate responsibility and sustainability metrics developed using
the widely accepted Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines
and methodology. In 2015, NextEra Energy responded to all 183
indicators requested by the GRI's new G4 and Electric Utility
Sector Guidelines.
During the past year, NextEra Energy has been recognized as
being:
- One of the 10 top companies in the world in both innovativeness
and community responsibility on Fortune magazine's 2015
"World's Most Admired Companies" list;
- The top "green utility" in North
America and No. 4 in the world in 2014 based on carbon
emissions and renewable energy capacity, according to an annual
report from EI Energy Intelligence; and
- A World's Most Ethical Company® by the Ethisphere Institute for
the eighth time.
Learn more about NextEra Energy's commitment to corporate
responsibility by visiting: www.NextEraEnergy.com/crr.
NextEra Energy, Inc.
NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NEE)
is a leading clean energy company with consolidated revenues of
approximately $17.0 billion,
approximately 44,900 megawatts of generating capacity, which
includes megawatts associated with noncontrolling interests related
to NextEra Energy Partners, LP (NYSE: NEP), and approximately
13,800 employees in 27 states and Canada as of year-end 2014. Headquartered in
Juno Beach, Fla., NextEra Energy's
principal subsidiaries are Florida
Power & Light Company, which serves approximately 4.8
million customer accounts in Florida and is one of the largest
rate-regulated electric utilities in the
United States, and NextEra Energy Resources, LLC, which,
together with its affiliated entities, is the world's largest
generator of renewable energy from the wind and sun. Through its
subsidiaries, NextEra Energy generates clean, emissions-free
electricity from eight commercial nuclear power units in
Florida, New Hampshire, Iowa and Wisconsin. NextEra Energy has been recognized
often by third parties for its efforts in sustainability, corporate
responsibility, ethics and compliance, and diversity, and has been
ranked in the top 10 worldwide for innovativeness and community
responsibility as part of Fortune's 2015 list of "World's Most
Admired Companies." For more information about NextEra Energy
companies, visit these websites: www.NextEraEnergy.com,
www.FPL.com, www.NextEraEnergyResources.com.
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SOURCE NextEra Energy, Inc.