NextEra Energy Inc.: 10-K Risk Factor Changes

Weather conditions directly influence the demand for electricity and natural gas and other fuels and affect the price of energy and energy-related commodities. In addition, severe weather and natural disasters, such as hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, droughts, extreme temperatures, icing events, wildfires, severe convective storms and earthquakes, can be destructive and cause power outages, personal injury and property damage, reduce revenue, affect the availability of fuel and water, and require NEE and FPL to incur additional costs, for example, to restore service and repair damaged facilities, to obtain replacement power, to access available financing sources, to obtain insurance, to pay for any associated injuries and damages and to fund any associated legal matters and compliance penalties. Furthermore, NEE's and FPL's physical plants could be placed at greater risk of damage should there be unusual variations in temperature and weather patterns, resulting in more intense, frequent and extreme weather events, abnormal levels of precipitation and, particularly relevant to FPL, a change in sea level. For example, FPL operates in the east and lower west coasts of Florida and in northwest Florida, areas that historically have been prone to severe weather events, such as hurricanes. A disruption or failure of electric generation, storage, transmission or distribution systems or natural gas production, transmission, storage or distribution systems in the event of a hurricane, tornado or other severe weather event, or otherwise, could prevent NEE and FPL from operating their business in the normal course and could result in any of the adverse consequences described above. Additionally, the actions taken to address the potential for severe weather such as additional winterizing of critical equipment and infrastructure, modifying or alternating plant operations and expanding load shedding options could result in significant increases in costs. Any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on NEE's and FPL's business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. At FPL and other businesses of NEE where cost recovery is available, recovery of costs to restore service, to repair damaged facilities or for other actions to address severe weather is or may be subject to regulatory approval, and any determination by the regulator not to permit timely and full recovery of the costs incurred could have a material adverse effect on NEE's and FPL's business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. 28 28 28

Weather conditions directly influence the demand for electricity and natural gas and other fuels and affect the price of energy and energy-related commodities. In addition, severe weather and natural disasters, such as hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, droughts, extreme temperatures, icing events, wildfires, severe convective storms and earthquakes, can be destructive and cause power outages, personal injury and property damage, reduce revenue, affect the availability of fuel and water, and require NEE and FPL to incur additional costs, for example, to restore service and repair damaged facilities, to obtain replacement power, to access available financing sources, to obtain insurance, to pay for any associated injuries and damages and to fund any associated legal matters and compliance penalties. Furthermore, NEE's and FPL's physical plants could be placed at greater risk of damage should changes in the global climate produce unusual variations in temperature and weather patterns, resulting in more intense, frequent and extreme weather events, abnormal levels of precipitation and, particularly relevant to FPL, a change in sea level. FPL operates in the east and lower west coasts of Florida and in northwest Florida, areas that historically have been prone to severe weather events, such as hurricanes. A disruption or failure of electric generation, transmission or distribution systems or natural gas production, transmission, storage or distribution systems in the event of a hurricane, tornado or other severe weather event, or otherwise, could prevent NEE and FPL from operating their business in the normal course and could result in any of the adverse consequences described above. Additionally, the actions taken to address the potential for severe weather such as additional winterizing of critical equipment and infrastructure, modifying or alternating plant operations and expanding load shedding options could result in significant increases in costs. Any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on NEE's and FPL's business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. At FPL and other businesses of NEE where cost recovery is available, recovery of costs to restore service, to repair damaged facilities or for other actions to address severe weather is or may be subject to regulatory approval, and any determination by the regulator not to permit timely and full recovery of the costs incurred could have a material adverse effect on NEE's and FPL's business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. Changes in weather can also affect the production of electricity at power generation facilities, including, but not limited to, NEER's wind and solar facilities. For example, the level of wind resource affects the revenue produced by wind generation facilities. Because the levels of wind and solar resources are variable and difficult to predict, NEER's results of operations for individual wind and solar facilities specifically, and NEE's results of operations generally, may vary significantly from period to period, depending on the level of available resources. To the extent that resources are not available at planned levels, the financial results from these facilities may be less than expected.

NEE is a holding company and, as such, has no material operations of its own. Substantially all of NEE's consolidated assets are held by its subsidiaries. NEE's ability to meet its financial obligations, including, but not limited to, its guarantees, and to pay dividends on its common stock is primarily dependent on its subsidiaries' net income and cash flows, which are subject to the risks of their respective businesses, and their ability to pay upstream dividends, make distributions or to repay funds to NEE. NEE's subsidiaries are separate legal entities and have no independent obligation to provide NEE with funds for its payment obligations. The subsidiaries have financial obligations themselves, including, but not limited to, payment of debt service, which they must satisfy before they can provide NEE with funds or make other payments to NEE. In addition, in the event of a subsidiary's liquidation or reorganization, NEE's right to participate as an equity holder in a distribution of assets is subject to the prior claims of the subsidiary's creditors. 35 35 35

NEE is a holding company and, as such, has no material operations of its own. Substantially all of NEE's consolidated assets are held by its subsidiaries. NEE's ability to meet its financial obligations, including, but not limited to, its guarantees, and to pay dividends on its common stock is primarily dependent on its subsidiaries' net income and cash flows, which are subject to the risks of their respective businesses, and their ability to pay upstream dividends or to repay funds to NEE. NEE's subsidiaries are separate legal entities and have no independent obligation to provide NEE with funds for its payment obligations. The subsidiaries have financial obligations, including, but not limited to, payment of debt service, which they must satisfy before they can provide NEE with funds. In addition, in the event of a subsidiary's liquidation or reorganization, NEE's right to participate in a distribution of assets is subject to the prior claims of the subsidiary's creditors. The dividend-paying ability of some of the subsidiaries is limited by contractual restrictions which are contained in outstanding financing agreements and which may be included in future financing agreements. The future enactment of laws or regulations also may prohibit or restrict the ability of NEE's subsidiaries to pay upstream dividends or to repay funds.

The inability of NEE's, NEECH's and FPL's credit providers to fund their credit commitments or to maintain their current credit ratings could require NEE, NEECH or FPL, among other things, to renegotiate requirements in agreements, find an alternative credit provider with acceptable credit ratings to meet funding requirements, or post cash collateral and could have a material adverse effect on NEE's and FPL's liquidity.

The inability of NEE's, NEECH's and FPL's credit providers to fund their credit commitments or to maintain their current credit ratings could require NEE, NEECH or FPL, among other things, to renegotiate requirements in agreements, find an alternative credit provider with acceptable credit ratings to meet funding requirements, or post cash collateral and could have a material adverse effect on NEE's and FPL's liquidity.

NEER provides full energy and capacity requirements services primarily to distribution utilities, which include load-following services and various ancillary services, to satisfy all or a portion of such utilities' power supply obligations to their customers. The supply costs for these transactions may be affected by a number of factors, including, but not limited to, weather conditions, transmission constraints, fluctuating prices for, and locational disconnects in, energy and ancillary services, and the ability of the distribution utilities' customers to elect to receive service from competing suppliers. If any of these factors materialize, costs to supply services may exceed revenues generated or be below expected return levels, which could have a material adverse effect on NEE's business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

NEER provides full energy and capacity requirements services primarily to distribution utilities, which include load-following services and various ancillary services, to satisfy all or a portion of such utilities' power supply obligations to their customers. The supply costs for these transactions may be affected by a number of factors, including, but not limited to, events that may occur after such utilities have committed to supply power, such as weather conditions, transmission constraints, fluctuating prices for, and locational disconnects in, energy and ancillary services, and the ability of the distribution utilities' customers to elect to receive service from competing suppliers. If any of these factors materialize, NEER may not be able to recover all of its increased supply costs, which could have a material adverse effect on NEE's business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Growth in customer accounts and growth of customer usage each directly influence the demand for electricity and the need for additional power generation and power delivery facilities, as well as the need for energy-related commodities, such as natural gas. Customer growth and customer usage are affected by a number of factors outside the control of NEE and FPL, such as mandated energy efficiency measures, demand side management requirements, installation of distributed generation technologies and economic and demographic conditions, such as population changes, job and income growth, housing starts, new business formation, expanded use of data centers, inflation and the overall level of economic activity. A lack of growth, or a decline, in the number of customers or in customer demand for electricity or natural gas and other fuels may cause NEE and FPL to fail to fully realize benefits from pending and planned future investments and expenditures and could have a material adverse effect on NEE's and FPL's growth, business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Growth in customer accounts and growth of customer usage each directly influence the demand for electricity and the need for additional power generation and power delivery facilities, as well as the need for energy-related commodities, such as natural gas. Customer growth and customer usage are affected by a number of factors outside the control of NEE and FPL, such as mandated energy efficiency measures, demand side management requirements, installation of distributed generation technologies and economic and demographic conditions, such as population changes, job and income growth, housing starts, new business formation, expanded use of data centers, inflation and the overall level of economic activity. A lack of growth, or a decline, in the number of customers or in customer demand for electricity or natural gas and other fuels may cause NEE and FPL to fail to fully realize the anticipated benefits from significant investments and expenditures and could have a material adverse effect on NEE's and FPL's growth, business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

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 the maximum amount of private liability insurance obtainable, and participates in a secondary financial protection system, which provides liability insurance coverage for an incident at any nuclear reactor in the U.S. Under the secondary financial protection system, NEE is subject to retrospective assessments and/or retrospective insurance premiums, plus any applicable taxes, for an incident at any nuclear reactor in the U.S. or at certain nuclear generation facilities in Europe, regardless of fault or proximity to the incident. Such assessments, if levied, could materially adversely affect NEE's and FPL's business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

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 the maximum amount of private liability insurance obtainable, and participates in a secondary financial protection system, which provides liability insurance coverage for an incident at any nuclear reactor in the U.S. Under the secondary financial protection system, NEE is subject to retrospective assessments and/or retrospective insurance premiums, plus any applicable taxes, for an incident at any nuclear reactor in the U.S. or at certain nuclear generation facilities in Europe, regardless of fault or proximity to the incident. Such assessments, if levied, could materially adversely affect NEE's and FPL's business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

supportive of clean energy project development, generally to be in a state of transition for the foreseeable future. Changes in the structure of the industry or in such laws and regulations could have a material adverse effect on NEE's and FPL's business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

minor, and could in the future cause material, disruptions in the ability of NEE and FPL to acquire certain generation equipment and batteries on time and at acceptable costs. Additionally, NEER is actively pursuing the restart of the Duane Arnold nuclear generation facility. The restart is subject to certain regulatory approvals, including NRC safety and environmental reviews, as well as permits from relevant state and local agencies. NEER has applied to the NRC to reinstate the operating license and to MISO for an interconnection agreement. Failure to obtain the necessary approvals could result in the impairment of amounts capitalized. Further, NEE could encounter difficulty in procuring or restoring specialized components which could impact the restart timeline. NEE could incur costs greater than expected or encounter unforeseen issues. If any development project or construction or capital improvement project is not completed, is delayed or is subject to cost overruns, certain associated costs may not be approved for recovery or otherwise be recoverable through regulatory mechanisms that may be available, and NEE and FPL could become obligated to make delay or termination payments or become obligated for other damages under contracts, could experience the loss, or reduction, of tax credits, bonus credits or tax incentives, the inability to transfer tax credits, or delayed or diminished returns, and could be required to write off all or a portion of their investment in the project. Any of these events could have a material adverse effect on NEE's and FPL's business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

disruptions in the ability of NEE and FPL to acquire solar panels and batteries on time and at acceptable costs. If any development project or construction or capital improvement project is not completed, is delayed or is subject to cost overruns, certain associated costs may not be approved for recovery or otherwise be recoverable through regulatory mechanisms that may be available, and NEE and FPL could become obligated to make delay or termination payments or become obligated for other damages under contracts, could experience the loss, or reduction, of tax credits, bonus credits or tax incentives, the inability to transfer tax credits, or delayed or diminished returns, and could be required to write off all or a portion of their investment in the project. Any of these events could have a material adverse effect on NEE's and FPL's business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

in, and is expected to continue to result in, increased costs. Such events or actions may materially adversely affect NEE's and FPL's business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

alternative valuation methods could affect the reported fair value of these derivative instruments and have a material adverse effect on NEE's and FPL's business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.