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Commitments and Contingencies
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2014
Commitments and Contingencies [Abstract]  
Commitments and Contingencies
Commitments and Contingencies

Commitments - NEE and its subsidiaries have made commitments in connection with a portion of their projected capital expenditures.  Capital expenditures at FPL include, among other things, the cost for construction or acquisition of additional facilities and equipment to meet customer demand, as well as capital improvements to and maintenance of existing facilities and the procurement of nuclear fuel.  At NEER, capital expenditures include, among other things, the cost, including capitalized interest, for construction and development of wind and solar projects and the procurement of nuclear fuel.  Capital expenditures for Corporate and Other primarily include the cost for construction of a natural gas pipeline system for new natural gas transportation infrastructure in Florida, as well as the cost to meet customer-specific requirements and maintain the fiber-optic network for the fiber-optic telecommunications business (FPL FiberNet) and the cost to maintain existing transmission facilities at NextEra Energy Transmission, LLC (NEET).

At March 31, 2014, estimated capital expenditures for the remainder of 2014 through 2018 were as follows:

 
Remainder of 2014
 
2015
 
2016
 
2017
 
2018
 
Total
 
(millions)
FPL:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Generation:(a)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
New(b)(c)
$
475

 
$
295

 
$
70

 
$

 
$

 
$
840

Existing
565

 
680

 
610

 
580

 
545

 
2,980

Transmission and distribution
1,055

 
1,200

 
1,125

 
955

 
1,025

 
5,360

Nuclear fuel
80

 
210

 
220

 
190

 
180

 
880

General and other
130

 
155

 
120

 
165

 
160

 
730

Total(d)
$
2,305

 
$
2,540

 
$
2,145

 
$
1,890

 
$
1,910

 
$
10,790

NEER:
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

Wind(e)
$
1,505

 
$
610

 
$
25

 
$
10

 
$
15

 
$
2,165

Solar(f)
480

 
750

 
520

 

 

 
1,750

Nuclear(g)
265

 
275

 
295

 
255

 
265

 
1,355

Other(h)
345

 
20

 
75

 
40

 
75

 
555

Total
$
2,595

 
$
1,655

 
$
915

 
$
305

 
$
355

 
$
5,825

Corporate and Other(i)
$
190

 
$
445

 
$
795

 
$
225

 
$
95

 
$
1,750

————————————
(a)
Includes allowance for funds used during construction (AFUDC) of approximately $28 million, $53 million and $17 million for the remainder of 2014 through 2016, respectively.
(b)
Includes land, generating structures, transmission interconnection and integration and licensing.
(c)
Consists of projects that have received FPSC approval. Excludes capital expenditures for the construction costs for the two additional nuclear units at FPL's Turkey Point site beyond what is required to receive an NRC license for each unit.
(d)
FPL has identified $1.5 billion to $2.5 billion in potential incremental capital expenditures through 2016 in addition to what is included in the table above.
(e)
Consists of capital expenditures for new wind projects and related transmission totaling approximately 1,815 MW, including approximately 465 MW in Canada, that have received applicable internal approvals.  NEER expects to add new U.S. wind generation of 2,000 MW to 2,500 MW in 2013 through 2015, including 325 MW added to date, at a total cost of up to $3.5 billion to $4.5 billion.
(f)
Consists of capital expenditures for new solar projects and related transmission totaling approximately 600 MW that have received applicable internal approvals, including equity contributions associated with a 50% equity investment in a 550 MW solar project.  Includes approximately $1 billion of total estimated costs associated with the pending acquisition of the development rights for a 250 MW solar project that is expected to close in mid-2014, subject to certain conditions precedent, and construction of the project, which is expected to be completed in 2016.  Excludes solar projects requiring internal approvals with generation totaling 47 MW with an estimated cost of approximately $120 million.
(g)
Includes nuclear fuel.
(h)
Consists of capital expenditures that have received applicable internal approvals.
(i)
Includes capital expenditures totaling approximately $1.4 billion for the remainder of 2014 through 2018 for construction of a natural gas pipeline system that has received applicable internal approvals, including approximately $885 million of equity contributions associated with a 33% equity investment in the northern portion of the natural gas pipeline system and $525 million for the southern portion, which includes AFUDC of approximately $1 million, $7 million, $20 million and $12 million for the remainder of 2014 through 2017, respectively.  The natural gas pipeline system is subject to certain conditions, including FERC approval.  A FERC decision is expected in 2015. See Contracts below.

The above estimates are subject to continuing review and adjustment and actual capital expenditures may vary significantly from these estimates.

Contracts - In addition to the commitments made in connection with the estimated capital expenditures included in the table in Commitments above, FPL has commitments under long-term purchased power and fuel contracts.  As of March 31, 2014, FPL is obligated under take-or-pay purchased power contracts with JEA and with subsidiaries of The Southern Company (Southern subsidiaries) to pay for approximately 1,330 MW annually through 2015 and 375 MW annually thereafter through 2021.  FPL also has various firm pay-for-performance contracts to purchase approximately 705 MW from certain cogenerators and small power producers (qualifying facilities) with expiration dates ranging from 2024 through 2034.  The purchased power contracts provide for capacity and energy payments.  Energy payments are based on the actual power taken under these contracts.  Capacity payments for the pay-for-performance contracts are subject to the qualifying facilities meeting certain contract conditions.  FPL has contracts with expiration dates through 2036 for the purchase and transportation of natural gas and coal, and storage of natural gas.  In addition, FPL has entered into 25-year natural gas transportation agreements with each of Sabal Trail Transmission, LLC (Sabal Trail, an entity in which a NEECH subsidiary has a 33% ownership interest), and Florida Southeast Connection, LLC (Florida Southeast Connection, a wholly-owned NEECH subsidiary), each of which will build, own and operate a pipeline that will be part of a natural gas pipeline system, for a quantity of 400,000 MMBtu/day beginning on May 1, 2017 and increasing to 600,000 MMBtu/day on May 1, 2020.  These agreements contain firm commitments that are contingent upon the occurrence of certain events, including FERC approval and completion of construction of the pipeline to be built by each of Sabal Trail and Florida Southeast Connection.  See Commitments above.

As of March 31, 2014, NEER has entered into contracts with expiration dates ranging from June 2014 through 2030 primarily for the purchase of wind turbines, wind towers and solar modules and related construction and development activities, as well as for the supply of uranium, conversion, enrichment and fabrication of nuclear fuel.  Approximately $2.4 billion of commitments under such contracts are included in the estimated capital expenditures table in Commitments above.  In addition, NEER has contracts primarily for the purchase, transportation and storage of natural gas and firm transmission service with expiration dates ranging from October 2014 through 2033.

Included in Corporate and Other in the table below is the remaining commitment by a NEECH subsidiary to invest over $900 million in Sabal Trail for the construction of the northern portion of the natural gas pipeline system.  Amounts committed for the remainder of 2014 through 2018 are also included in the estimated capital expenditures table in Commitments above.

The required capacity and/or minimum payments under the contracts discussed above as of March 31, 2014 were estimated as follows:

 
Remainder of 2014
 
2015
 
2016
 
2017
 
2018
 
Thereafter
 
(millions)
FPL:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Capacity charges:(a)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Qualifying facilities
$
210

 
$
290

 
$
250

 
$
255

 
$
260

 
$
1,965

JEA and Southern subsidiaries
$
165

 
$
195

 
$
70

 
$
50

 
$
10

 
$
5

Minimum charges, at projected prices:(b)
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 Natural gas, including transportation and storage(c)
$
1,485

 
$
855

 
$
685

 
$
745

 
$
825

 
$
14,520

Coal
$
50

 
$
40

 
$
20

 
$

 
$

 
$

NEER
$
1,590

 
$
600

 
$
175

 
$
105

 
$
105

 
$
475

Corporate and Other(d)(e)
$
130

 
$
250

 
$
515

 
$
50

 
$
25

 
$
50

————————————
(a)
Capacity charges under these contracts, substantially all of which are recoverable through the capacity cost recovery clause, totaled approximately $123 million and $126 million for the three months ended March 31, 2014 and 2013, respectively.  Energy charges under these contracts, which are recoverable through the fuel clause, totaled approximately $56 million and $23 million for the three months ended March 31, 2014 and 2013, respectively.
(b)
Recoverable through the fuel clause.
(c)
Includes approximately $200 million, $295 million and $8,535 million in 2017, 2018 and thereafter, respectively, of firm commitments, subject to certain conditions as noted above, related to the natural gas transportation agreements with Sabal Trail and Florida Southeast Connection.
(d)
Includes an approximately $50 million commitment to invest in clean power and technology businesses through 2021.
(e)
Excludes approximately $320 million and $200 million in 2014 and 2015, respectively, of joint obligations of NEECH and NEER which are included in the NEER amounts above.

Insurance - Liability for accidents at nuclear power plants is governed by the Price-Anderson Act, which limits the liability of nuclear reactor owners to the amount of insurance available from both private sources and an industry retrospective payment plan.  In accordance with this Act, NEE maintains $375 million of private liability insurance per site, which is the maximum obtainable, and participates in a secondary financial protection system, which provides up to $13.2 billion of liability insurance coverage per incident at any nuclear reactor in the United States.  Under the secondary financial protection system, NEE is subject to retrospective assessments of up to $1.0 billion ($509 million for FPL), plus any applicable taxes, per incident at any nuclear reactor in the United States, payable at a rate not to exceed $152 million ($76 million for FPL) per incident per year.  NEE and FPL are contractually entitled to recover a proportionate share of such assessments from the owners of minority interests in Seabrook, Duane Arnold Energy Center (Duane Arnold) and St. Lucie Unit No. 2, which approximates $15 million, $38 million and $19 million, plus any applicable taxes, per incident, respectively.

NEE participates in a nuclear insurance mutual company that provides $2.75 billion of limited insurance coverage per occurrence per site for property damage, decontamination and premature decommissioning risks at its nuclear plants and a sublimit of $1.5 billion for non-nuclear perils.  The proceeds from such insurance, however, must first be used for reactor stabilization and site decontamination before they can be used for plant repair.  NEE also participates in an insurance program that provides limited coverage for replacement power costs if a nuclear plant is out of service for an extended period of time because of an accident.  In the event of an accident at one of NEE's or another participating insured's nuclear plants, NEE could be assessed up to $175 million ($106 million for FPL), plus any applicable taxes, in retrospective premiums in a policy year.  NEE and FPL are contractually entitled to recover a proportionate share of such assessments from the owners of minority interests in Seabrook, Duane Arnold and St. Lucie Unit No. 2, which approximates $2 million, $5 million and $4 million, plus any applicable taxes, respectively.

Due to the high cost and limited coverage available from third-party insurers, NEE does not have property insurance coverage for a substantial portion of its transmission and distribution property and has no property insurance coverage for FPL FiberNet's fiber-optic cable.  Should FPL's future storm restoration costs exceed the reserve amount established through the issuance of storm-recovery bonds by a VIE in 2007, FPL may recover storm restoration costs, subject to prudence review by the FPSC, either through surcharges approved by the FPSC or through securitization provisions pursuant to Florida law.

In the event of a loss, the amount of insurance available might not be adequate to cover property damage and other expenses incurred.  Uninsured losses and other expenses, to the extent not recovered from customers in the case of FPL or Lone Star Transmission, LLC (Lone Star), would be borne by NEE and/or FPL and/or Lone Star, as the case may be, and could have a material adverse effect on NEE's and FPL's financial condition, results of operations and liquidity.

Spain Solar Projects - On March 28, 2013 and May 3, 2013, events of default occurred under the project-level financing agreements for the Spain solar projects (project-level financing) as a result of changes of law that occurred in December 2012 and February 2013.  These changes of law negatively affected the projected economics of the projects and have caused the project-level financing to be unsupportable by expected future project cash flows.  Under the project-level financing, events of default provide for, among other things, a right by the lenders (which they did not exercise for the project-level financing) to accelerate the payment of the project-level debt.  Accordingly, in 2013, the project-level debt and the associated derivative liabilities related to interest rate swaps were classified as current maturities of long-term debt and current derivative liabilities, respectively, with balances of $792 million and $108 million, respectively, on NEE's condensed consolidated balance sheets as of March 31, 2014. In July 2013, the Spanish government published a new law that created a new economic framework for the Spanish renewable energy sector.  Additional regulatory pronouncements from the Spanish government are needed to complete and implement the framework.  In February 2014, a draft of the regulatory pronouncements was made public. It is uncertain when the final regulatory pronouncements will be issued. At this time, NEE is unable to assess the framework's ultimate impact on the Spain solar projects which could include further impairment of the Spain solar projects and/or a partial refund of tariff revenues collected since July 2013.

As part of a settlement agreement reached on December 20, 2013 between NEECH, NextEra Energy España, S.L. (NEE España), which is the NEER subsidiary in Spain that is the direct shareholder of the project-level subsidiaries, the project-level subsidiaries and the lenders, the future recourse of the lenders under the project-level financing agreements is effectively limited to the letters of credit described below and to the assets of NEE España and the project-level subsidiaries. Under the settlement agreement, the lenders, among other things, irrevocably waived events of default related to changes of law, including those described above, and agreed not to exercise any rights with respect to any additional events of default that may occur with respect to implementing existing changes of law between the settlement date through June 1, 2014 and NEECH affiliates provided for the project-level subsidiaries to post approximately €37 million (approximately $51 million as of March 31, 2014) in letters of credit to fund operating and debt service reserves under the project-level financing agreements and €10 million (approximately $14 million as of March 31, 2014) in a letter of credit to provide support for a performance guarantee under the project-level financing agreements.  Additionally, NEE España, the project-level subsidiaries and the lenders have agreed to use commercially reasonable efforts to seek to restructure the project-level financing on or before June 1, 2014.  There can be no assurance that the project-level financing will be successfully restructured.

Legal Proceedings - In November 1999, the Attorney General of the United States, on behalf of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), brought an action in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia against Georgia Power Company and other subsidiaries of The Southern Company for certain alleged violations of the Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) provisions and the New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) of the Clean Air Act.  In May 2001, the EPA amended its complaint to allege, among other things, that Georgia Power Company constructed and is continuing to operate Scherer Unit No. 4, in which FPL owns an interest of approximately 76%, without obtaining a PSD permit, without complying with NSPS requirements, and without applying best available control technology for nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxides and particulate matter as required by the Clean Air Act.  It also alleges that unspecified major modifications have been made at Scherer Unit No. 4 that require its compliance with the aforementioned Clean Air Act provisions.  The EPA seeks injunctive relief requiring the installation of best available control technology and civil penalties.  Under the EPA's civil penalty rules, the EPA could assess up to $25,000 per day for each violation from an unspecified date after June 1, 1975 through January 30, 1997, up to $27,500 per day for each violation from January 31, 1997 through March 15, 2004, up to $32,500 per day for each violation from March 16, 2004 through January 12, 2009 and up to $37,500 per day for each violation thereafter.  Georgia Power Company has answered the amended complaint, asserting that it has complied with all requirements of the Clean Air Act, denying the plaintiff's allegations of liability, denying that the plaintiff is entitled to any of the relief that it seeks and raising various other defenses.  In June 2001, a federal district court stayed discovery and administratively closed the case and the EPA has not yet moved to reopen the case.  In April 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court in a separate unrelated case rejected an argument that a "major modification" occurs at a plant only when there is a resulting increase in the hourly rate of air emissions.  Georgia Power Company has made a similar argument in defense of its case, but has other factual and legal defenses that are unaffected by the U.S. Supreme Court's decision.

In 1995 and 1996, NEE, through an indirect subsidiary, purchased from Adelphia Communications Corporation (Adelphia) 1,091,524 shares of Adelphia common stock and 20,000 shares of Adelphia preferred stock (convertible into 2,358,490 shares of Adelphia common stock) for an aggregate price of approximately $35,900,000.  On January 29, 1999, Adelphia repurchased all of these shares for $149,213,130 in cash.  In June 2004, Adelphia, Adelphia Cablevision, L.L.C. and the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors of Adelphia filed a complaint against NEE and its indirect subsidiary in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York.  The complaint alleges that the repurchase of these shares by Adelphia was a fraudulent transfer, in that at the time of the transaction Adelphia (i) was insolvent or was rendered insolvent, (ii) did not receive reasonably equivalent value in exchange for the cash it paid, and (iii) was engaged or about to engage in a business or transaction for which any property remaining with Adelphia had unreasonably small capital.  The complaint seeks the recovery for the benefit of Adelphia's bankruptcy estate of the cash paid for the repurchased shares, plus interest from January 29, 1999.  NEE has filed an answer to the complaint.  NEE believes that the complaint is without merit because, among other reasons, Adelphia will be unable to demonstrate that (i) Adelphia's repurchase of shares from NEE, which repurchase was at the market value for those shares, was not for reasonably equivalent value, (ii) Adelphia was insolvent at the time of the repurchase, or (iii) the repurchase left Adelphia with unreasonably small capital.  The trial was completed in May 2012 and closing arguments were heard in July 2012.

In 2004, TXU Portfolio Management Company (TXU) served several NEER affiliates as defendants in a civil action filed in the District Court in Dallas County, Texas.  The petition alleged that the NEER affiliates had contractual obligations to produce and sell to TXU a minimum quantity of energy and renewable energy credits each year during the period from 2002 through 2005 and that the NEER affiliates failed to meet this obligation.  TXU asserted claims for breach of contract and declaratory judgment and sought damages of approximately $34 million plus attorneys' fees, costs and interest.  Following a jury trial in 2007, the trial court issued a final judgment holding that the contracts were not terminated and neither party was entitled to recover any damages, which judgment was appealed by TXU.  In 2010, the appellate court reversed portions of the trial court's judgment, ruling that the contracts' liquidated damage provision is an enforceable liquidated damages clause.  In 2011, the NEER affiliates filed a petition for review of the appellate court decision with the Texas Supreme Court. In March 2014, the Texas Supreme Court, among other things, reversed the appellate court decision by ruling that the liquidated damages clause was an unenforceable penalty.

NEE and FPL are vigorously defending, and believe that they or their affiliates have meritorious defenses to, the lawsuits described above.  In addition to the legal proceedings discussed above, NEE and its subsidiaries, including FPL, are involved in other legal and regulatory proceedings, actions and claims in the ordinary course of their businesses.  Generating plants in which subsidiaries of NEE, including FPL, have an ownership interest are also involved in legal and regulatory proceedings, actions and claims, the liabilities from which, if any, would be shared by such subsidiary.  In the event that NEE and FPL, or their affiliates, do not prevail in the lawsuits described above or these other legal and regulatory proceedings, actions and claims, there may be a material adverse effect on their financial statements.  While management is unable to predict with certainty the outcome of the lawsuits described above or these other legal and regulatory proceedings, actions and claims, based on current knowledge it is not expected that their ultimate resolution, individually or collectively, will have a material adverse effect on the financial statements of NEE or FPL.