NextEra Energy Inc., Duke Energy Corp. and Emera Inc. are participating in Florida municipal utility JEA's request for proposals for new ownership structures, including privatization, the utilities confirmed.
"We can confirm that NextEra Energy has submitted a formal response to JEA's 'Invitation to Negotiate' qualification stage," NextEra Energy spokesperson Debra Larsson said in an Oct. 7 email. "We intend to respect the ITN process and rules and have no further comment at this time."
Duke Energy spokesperson Catherine Butler said in an Oct. 7 email that the company responded to JEA's solicitation "with a comprehensive demonstration of our qualifications to participate in the process."
"This is just the first step in a lengthy, complex process — and we look forward to learning more," Butler added.
Jeff Myrick, a spokesperson for Emera, said in an Oct. 8 email that the Canadian utility also submitted a response. "Out of respect for the process, we don't have anything more to add at this time," Myrick said.
All three investor-owned utilities are already familiar with the Florida market. NextEra is headquartered in Juno Beach and has two subsidiaries, Florida Power & Light Co. and Gulf Power Co., that provide electricity. Duke Energy operates in the Sunshine State through Duke Energy Florida LLC. Emera provides electricity through Tampa Electric Co., a TECO Energy Inc. subsidiary.
Also, the Florida Times-Union reported reported that France-headquartered Veolia Environnement SA, referred to as Veolia Group, expressed an interest in teaming up with other unnamed partners to acquire JEA's water utility business. Along with its 478,000 electric customers, JEA serves 357,000 water, 279,000 sewer customers and 15,000 reclaimed water customers.
JEA's board of directors voted July 23 to allow the utility's senior leadership to solicit interest in various ownership structures and launched the official process Aug. 5. JEA officials have said the Jacksonville, Fla., company could face a $2.3 billion cash gap in 2030 if it maintains a "business as usual" approach and be forced to raise rates or make drastic staff cuts.
The company said in its solicitation that bidders should propose initiatives to "future-proof" the business, such as investing in distributed generation and renewables and adding new services. JEA's minimum requirements for bids include keeping the utility's value to at least $3 billion, distributing at least $400 million to customers and protecting certain employee retirement benefits.
Bids for strategic plans were due Oct. 7. During the company's Sept. 24 board meeting, its legal advisers said bids will be disclosed after the deadline but the utility will not release the identities of the companies behind the bids to ensure the process remains competitive.
JEA expects to have a recommended contract to review in late February 2020.
JEA started to explore privatization in late 2017 and sparked interest when an outside consultant put JEA's market value at between $7.5 billion and $11 billion in 2018. The utility ended privatization talks in May 2018.
