Or "investor owned utilities pay out c-level bonuses and dividends equal to 23% of actual costs"

Some of it goes to bonuses and dividends, but 23% is a really big number.

I think a big part of that number is risk, dividends are tied to risk too.

The very idea of investing is that you take risks in exchange for profits. That is, if it fails, you lose your capital, if it succeeds, you become richer. A public provider doesn't work the same way, risk is covered by taxpayer money. If it fails, taxpayers foot the bill, if it succeeds, cheaper service.

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javcasas 4 hours ago | parent [-]

NEE profit margin is currently 40.37% https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/NEE/nextera-energy...

From that, NEE pays 43.72% in dividends.

If we multiply these two numbers, we end up at 17.64% in dividends ALONE.

23% is not a really big number by a long shot.

	▲	missedthecue 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		NEE isn't a pure utility, they are a hybrid of two businesses. Their Florida Power & Light (FPL) subsidiary is a regulated utility which the state government caps ROEs of at 10.95%. Their other subsidiary is NextEra Energy Resources, which is not a regulated utility, and has 60% net margins. This business is basically an unregulated competitive wind and solar developer. They take full risk if they can't sell their power, but can build wherever they think there are customers willing to pay. 35% of their power is sold straight to industrial customers at private contracted prices, the rest into the grid.