NextEra’s first quarter earnings jump

FPL parent reports $88M increase

FloridaPower& LightCo.’s corporate parent reported a solid income gain for the first quarter of 2017, with adjusted net earnings increasing by $88 million to $820 million compared to $732 million during the same period in 2016.

NextEra Energy, based in Juno Beach, said its adjusted earnings per share increased to $1.75 from $1.59 — about 10.1 percent — compared to the previous quarter, primarily reflecting contributions fromFPLandNextEraEnergyResources.

That beat analysts’ expectations that the company would earn $1.51 per share, according to figures compiled by Thomson Reuters.

The company’s stock price closed up $2.11 or 1.61 percent to $132.98 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Net income of Florida Power & Light, the company’s principal subsidiary, increased to $445 million, or 95 cents per share, from $393 million, or 85 cents per share.

FPL’s customer base increased by 65,000— to 4.890 million from 4.825 million, or 1.3 percent, over the comparable quarter, the parent company said.

In its release, the company said the earnings increase was “primarily driven by continued investment in the business to further advance its long-term focus on delivering outstanding customer value, best-in-class reliability and typical residential customer bills that are significantly lower than the national andFlorida averages.”

The release did not specify whether a rate increase that took effect on Jan. 1 had any impact on the earnings improvement.

That increase, which was approved by state utility regulators late last year, added $7 a month to what the utility says is a typical user’s 1,000-kWh monthly bill.

Further rate increases are scheduled to take effect inJanuary 2018 and June 2019.

In its approval request to the Florida Public Service Commission, FPL said the rate increases were necessary to complete $16 billion in investments, including continued upgrades of its power grid, construction of new and expanded natural gas combustion turbines, expansion of solar energy capacity, and funding for a new natural gas plant in Okeechobee County that would go online in 2019.

In early April, FPL said it plans to replace an aging natural gas plant inDania Beach with a “highefficiency, natural gas-fueled, clean energy center” at the site that would produce 1,200 MW and begin operating in 2022.

FPL’s operating revenues increased by $224 million to $2.53 billion for the quarter, the announcement said.