NextEra Energy CEO John Ketchum on Wednesday pushed back against allegations of campaign finance violations at the company’s Florida Power & Light (FPL) subsidiary.

In a prepared statement made during the company’s year-end earnings call, Ketchum told analysts that an internal review of media reports of alleged violations by FPL is “substantially complete.”

“We believe that FPL would not be found liable for any of the Florida campaign finance law violations as alleged in the media articles,” he said, basing his comment on “information in our possession.”

Ketchum said the media coverage was used in a subsequent complaint filed in October by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics at the Federal Election Committee. The ethics watchdog named names in its complaint and tracked contributions totaling $1.27 million to federally registered super PACs in 2020.

John Ketchum | NextEra Energy

NextEra (NYSE:NEE) plans to seek dismissal of the complaint in the next few weeks, Ketchum said.

“[The complaint] primarily relies on media articles that allege certain violations … by various parties, including, by implication, FPL,” Ketchum said. “We do not believe it is appropriate for a complaint such as this to move forward … we do not expect that allegations of federal campaign finance law violations taken as a whole would be material to us.”

NextEra also announced that FPL CEO Eric Silagy plans to retire after 20 years with the company, 11 as the utility’s top executive. Armando Pimentel, who retired from NextEra in 2019 as CEO of NextEra Energy Resources, will replace Silagy.

Silagy has denied any knowledge of the utility’s alleged involvement in manipulating Florida elections, although leaked messages have shown he was in frequent and detailed communication with his senior staff about influencing a state senate race. Silagy served as senior vice president of regulatory and state governmental affairs before being named FPL’s CEO.

Ketchum said NextEra wasn’t making a “connection” between the allegations and Silagy’s retirement but acknowledged the reports may have played a role.

“When you think about all the challenges that he had to overcome, with the hurricanes and high natural gas prices and inflation and supply chain and, you know, the media allegations and all those things, I think it took a toll on Eric that year,” Ketchum said in a response to an analysts’ question. “The way I look at it is it’s a little earlier than I would have hoped Eric would have wanted to do it.”

Shares Plunge

The earnings discussion, leadership changes and NextEra’s mixed results led to nearly a 9% drop in the company’s stock price. Shares closed at $76.59 Wednesday, down $7.31 from the previous close.

NextEra reported a fourth-quarter earnings of $1.52 billion ($0.76/share), compared to $1.20 billion ($0.61/share) a year ago.

For the full year, earnings were $4.157 billion ($2.10/share), up from $3.57 billion ($1.81/share) in 2021.

Operating revenue was up to $6.16 billion from $5.05 billion in 2021. However, analysts had expected $6.3 billion.

NextEra Energy expects 2023 earnings in the range of $2.98-$3.13 per share. The midpoint, $3.05 per share, is lower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.11.

Ketchum said the Inflation Reduction Act’s passage leaves NextEra “better positioned than ever before to offer low-cost renewables and other clean energy solutions” beyond 2030. He said the company is extending its adjusted EPS growth expectations to $3.63-$4.00 for 2026.

“We will be disappointed if we are not able to deliver financial results at or near the top end of our adjusted earnings per share expectations ranges,” Ketchum said.