In This Article:
By Laila Kearney and Arunima Kumar
(Reuters) -NextEra Energy beat Wall Street estimates on Wednesday on rising electricity demand as the giant U.S. power provider works to maneuver around intensifying global trade risks, its CEO said.
Rising costs brought by U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff fight threaten to slow a recent surge in electricity demand and dent expansion plans by the country's power companies.
NextEra, which is among the largest renewable energy companies in the world, said that by shifting its tariff exposure to suppliers and contracting with domestic battery manufacturers, it has brought its trade risk to $150 million on $75 billion capital expenditures, or less than 0.2%.
"And we feel that we have a good shot of getting that to zero," said NextEra CEO John Ketchum.
The company's shares were up 2.7% at $68.46 in morning trade.
Last year, NextEra made arrangements to purchase U.S.-made batteries for all of its backlog, which is the company's queue of projects.
NextEra Energy Resources (NEER), which is NextEra's renewable arm, added about 3.2 gigawatts (GW) of new renewables and storage to its backlog, Ketchum said. The unit's total backlog now totals roughly 28 GW.
U.S. power consumption is expected to rise to record highs in 2025 and 2026, climbing nearly 3% this year from 2024's all-time high, the Energy Information Administration said last month, fueled by demand from data centers powering the artificial intelligence boom.
The United States, which has a capacity of about 1,200 GW, will need more than 450 GW of new supply to meet rising electricity consumption by the end of the decade, Ketchum said, adding that renewable power sources like wind and solar will be needed to meet the demand.
"America is going to need all forms of energy to meet this enormous demand," said Ketchum, adding that NextEra was engaging with Washington on energy policy that might affect subsidies for renewables.
On an adjusted basis, the Juno Beach, Florida-based NextEra posted a profit of 99 cents per share for the first quarter, beating analysts' average estimate of 97 cents, according to data compiled by LSEG.
FPL SHINES
Florida Power & Light (FPL), the company's regulated utility, posted strong quarterly results, with net income rising 12.3% from a year earlier.
The utility's growth was supported by continued infrastructure investments and customer base expansion.
FPL's capital expenditures totaled $2.4 billion in the quarter. For the full year, the company expects to invest between $8 billion and $8.8 billion.