NextEra Energy has officially confirmed the news of making Fortune’s 2025 list of “World’s Most Admired Companies”
According to certain reports, the company was named No. 1 in the electric and gas utilities industry, marking its 17th appearance in 19 years.
In case you weren’t aware, the stated Fortune list is composed using ratings from executives, directors and analysts, who rate the highest-revenue companies within their industry on nine criteria, including innovation, people management, use of corporate assets, social responsibility, quality of management, financial soundness, long-term investment value, quality of products/services, and global competitiveness.
Talk about what propelled NextEra to the top in its category, the answer begins from its track-record of providing industry-leading energy innovation and infrastructure. You see, over the last decade or so, the company has invested more than $150 billion in the nation’s energy infrastructure.
These funds, more specifically, have gone towards upgrading its existing nuclear plants for increased energy output, as well as for building natural gas pipelines, natural gas-fired generation, battery energy storage, and renewables.
Next up, the recognition also came on back of NextEra’s efforts to deliver significant economic benefits, all while retaining a special focus on rural America. This translates to how the company has already created substantial amount of jobs and tax revenue across America,
To give you some context, the last decade has seen the company pay out an estimated $8 billion in annual property taxes and more than $1.6 billion in annual land payments. Beyond that, it also operates in 49 states and has more than 16,000 employees on its payroll.
NextEra has further expanded the country’s overall energy capacity. In fact, it delivers more electricity to American homes and businesses than any other company.
On top of that, the company also owns US’ largest natural gas fleet, one of the largest nuclear generators in the world, something which allows it to create more American-made renewable energy than anyone else. An example relaying the same would reveal that, last year, NextEra placed into service roughly 8.7 gigawatts (GW) of new renewables and storage projects. NextEra’s diverse energy generation also keeps electricity prices low.
Moving forward, the company plans to invest roughly $120 billion over the next four years in growing its fleet to roughly 121 GW.
Apart from that, we must get into NextEra’s bid to deliver operational excellence and reliability at scale. The company, for instance, owns what would be US’ largest electric utility with one of the lowest bills in the nation. If we are talking numbers, the stated bill amount is almost 30% below the national average.
Alongside that, NextEra’s innovations in smart grid technology have also tread a long distance to help the country avoid over 2.7 million outages during 2024. On the other hand, its best-in-class non-fuel operations and maintenance costs are understood to the 50% better than the second-best in its peer group, considering they save customer $24 each month on a typical 1,000-kilowatt-hour residential bill.
For the future, NextEra continues to have strategic focus. In respect to that, it recently announced a new framework agreement with GE Vernova to develop natural gas generation projects paired with renewable energy and storage.
Going by the available details, this particular collaboration banks leverages both companies’ strengths to identify locations on the grid that would benefit from new gas-fired generation. The idea behind doing so is to aid the grid’s ability in delivering integrated power solutions for customers.
NextEra’s future plans also include making significant progress in evaluating the recommissioning of Iowa’s only nuclear power plant, Duane Arnold Energy Center.
“This recognition would not be possible without the relentless dedication, creativity and hard work of our more than 16,000 employees, who constantly uphold our company’s 100-year legacy by driving innovation and excellence in our industry,” said John Ketchum, NextEra Energy chairman, president and CEO. “Energy demand is growing exponentially, and we have the scale, experience and technology to deliver. With our ability to quickly deliver renewables plus storage to meet growing power demand and also pair gas-fired generation for capacity, we’re right where we need to be to power America today and tomorrow.”
