Good morning, everyone.
Good morning.
Welcome to the annual meeting of the shareholders of NextEra Energy. I'm Jim Robo, Chairman and CEO of NextEra Energy, and I hereby call this meeting to order. First of all, let me begin by thanking all of you for attending this meeting or for listening via our webcast. The company you own had a very strong year in 2017, and after the official business of this meeting is concluded, I will give a brief overview of our performance last year before opening up the floor to questions if needed. First of all, let me review a few housekeeping items and make some introductions. Please be aware that our proceedings are being webcast this morning. On the dais with me today is Charlie Sieving, Executive Vice President and General Counsel.
In the back of the room is Scott Seeley, Vice President of Compliance and Corporate Secretary, who will assist in the business of the meeting. Also with us today are other senior officers of NextEra Energy, Florida Power & Light Company, and NextEra Energy Resources. I would like to introduce our directors who are joining me today as nominees for election. I'll ask that each stand up as their name is called. Sherry Barrat, the retired Vice Chairman of Northern Trust Corporation, a financial holding company headquartered in Chicago. Sherry has been a director since 1998. Jim Cambron, a private investor and former Chairman and CEO of Utilities Inc., which was one of the largest investor-owned water utilities in the U.S. Jim has been a director since 2002. Ken Dunn, Emeritus Professor of Financial Economics and former Dean of the David A.
Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University. Ken has been a director since 2010. Naren Gursahaney, former President and CEO of ADT, a provider of security systems and services. Naren has been a director since 2014. Kirk Hachigian, Chairman and acting CEO of JELD-WEN, one of the world's largest manufacturers of windows and doors. Kirk has been a director since 2013. Toni Jennings, Chairman of Jack Jennings & Son, a family-owned construction business, and the former Lieutenant Governor of Florida. Toni has been a director since 2007. Amy Lane, the retired Managing Director and Group Leader of the Global Retailing Investment Banking Group at Merrill Lynch & Company. Amy has been a director since 2015. Rudy Schupp, retired President of Valley National Bancorp and Chief Banking Officer of Valley National Bank. Rudy has been a director since 2005.
Jack Skolds, retired Executive Vice President of Exelon and President of Exelon Energy Delivery. Jack has been a director since 2012. Bill Swanson, retired Chairman and CEO of Raytheon, a technology and innovation leader specializing in defense, security, and civil markets throughout the world. Bill has been a director since 2009. Hansel Tookes, retired President of Raytheon International and Chairman and CEO of Raytheon Aircraft. Hansel has been a director since 2005. Also here today are independent auditors, Deloitte & Touche. Representing the firm this morning are Greg Szilagyi and Allison Taylor. Let's get to the formal business of the meeting, which will include a description of the items of business that require approval of shareholders, a discussion of those items only, and a vote on those items. When we finish the formal business, I will adjourn the meeting.
As I said, I'll give a brief review of our 2017 results and then take any questions. To enhance the value of this meeting to you and to ensure that all shareholders have a fair opportunity to participate, we have four simple guidelines. One, we'll follow the order of business set out in the agenda. Two, because this is a meeting of shareholders, the opportunity to participate is limited to those who own shares of NextEra Energy or their representatives. Three, those wishing to speak on an item of business should proceed to the standing microphone in the center aisle. When recognized, please state your name and the number of shares you own and tell us whether you are an organization holding shares. Please address your question to me, and please allow time for additional shareholders to participate.
To assist you in this regard, we have a timekeeper who will ring a bell after two minutes. Four, those who have not had an opportunity to speak will be recognized before those who have already spoken. With that, I'll ask for confirmation that we have a quorum present so that we may conduct the business of the meeting.
Mr. Chairman, approximately 91% of our outstanding shares are present, we have a quorum.
Thanks, Charlie. We have five items of business today, including two shareholder proposals. If those shareholders or their representatives are here to present them. Item number one is the election as directors of the nominees specified in the proxy statement. Item number two is the ratification of the appointment of Deloitte & Touche LLP as NextEra Energy's independent registered public accounting firm for 2018. Item number three is the approval by non-binding advisory vote of NextEra Energy's compensation of its named executive officers as disclosed in the proxy statement. Item number four is proposed by Myra Young. Is the proponent or a representative of the proponent here today? Please step to the microphone, introduce yourself, and present your proposal.
Wendy Stoken. I'm reading for Myra K. Young. Can you hear me?
Yes. Step closer to the microphone maybe.
Okay.
Thank you.
Okay. Just begin reading?
Proposal four, right to act, written consent, sponsored by Myra K. Young of Elk Grove, California. Shareholders request that the board of directors take the steps necessary to permit written consent by shareholders entitled to cast a minimum number of votes that would be necessary to authorize an action at a meeting at which all shareholders entitled to vote thereon were present and voting. This written consent is to be consistent with giving shareholders the fullest power to act by written consent in accordance with applicable law. This includes shareholders' ability to initiate any appropriate topic for written consent. The shareholder's right to act by written consent and to call a special meeting are two complementary ways to bring an important matter to attention of both management and shareholders outside the annual meeting cycle. This is important because there could be more than a year between annual meetings.
A shareholder's right to act by written consent is one method to somewhat equalize NextEra Energy's restrictive provisions for shareholders to call a special meeting. For instance, it takes 20% of shareholders to call a special meeting when a company's enabled 10% of shareholders to do so. This proposal topic won majority shareholder support at 13 major companies in a single year. This included 67% support of both Allstate and Sprint. Last year, the topic won majority votes at Western Union, Ryder System, and BorgWarner Inc. Hundreds of major companies enable shareholders to act by written consent, including 64% of S&P 500 and 55% of S&P 1500. Please vote yes, right to act, written consent, proposal four.
Thank you. I declare that item number four is properly presented. Item number five is proposed by the Comptroller of the State of New York as the trustee of the New York State Common Retirement Fund. Please step to the microphone and introduce yourself and present your proposal.
Hello, my name is Jan Bryan. I'm a financial advisor. I live in Prescott, Arizona, and I'm representing the New York State Comptroller's Office today. Good morning, everyone. Mr. Chairman, my name is Jan Bryan. I'm here today on behalf of the New York State Common Retirement Fund to present the fund's resolution, calling on NextEra Energy to fully report on its political spending and its process and procedures for making political contributions with corporate funds. As long-term shareholders of NextEra Energy, the fund supports policy that apply transparency and accountability to corporate political giving. In its view, such disclosure is fully consistent with public policy in regard to public company disclosures.
Company executives exercise wide discretion over the use of corporate resources for political purposes, relying only on the limited data available from the Federal Election Commission and the Internal Revenue Service can give shareholders an incomplete picture of the company's political spending. The New York State Fund believes that a complete disclosure by the company is necessary for shareholders to be able to fully evaluate the political use of corporate assets. Therefore, on behalf of the New York State Common Retirement Fund, holder of 1,407,200 NextEra Energy shares, I submit the resolution on political disclosure found in your proxy materials. Thank you.
Thank you. I declare that item number five is properly presented. We will now have a discussion on these five items of business only. If you're a shareholder and have a comment or question on these items of business, please come to the microphone, state your name and the number of shares you own, and ask your question. As a reminder, there'll be an additional opportunity for general discussion after we finish the formal business of the meeting. Are there any comments or questions on these items of business? Okay. Seeing none, since under our bylaws, no other nominations or proposals would be timely, we'll now conduct the vote. Those who want to cast a ballot or submit a proxy, please raise your hand and a balloting representative will assist you.
If you've already sent in your proxy or you're submitting it now, you do not need to fill out a ballot. It appears that all shareholders wishing to vote by ballot have done so. I hereby declare the polls closed. I believe that the Inspector of Election has provided the preliminary results of the vote to the general counsel. Charlie, would you please announce the preliminary results?
Sure. Mr. Chairman, the preliminary results are as follows. On item one, the election of directors, all nominees received at least 90% of the votes cast, therefore, all of them have been elected. On item two, approximately 97% of votes cast have approved Deloitte & Touche, our independent registered public accounting firm for 2018. The appointment has been ratified. On item three, approximately 95% of votes cast have approved by non-binding advisory vote the compensation of our named executive officers, the compensation has been approved. On item four, approximately 57% of the votes cast are against the shareholder proposal by Myra Young. That proposal has not been approved. On item five, approximately 57% of the votes cast are against the shareholder proposal related to political contributions disclosure. That proposal also has not been approved.
Thank you, Charlie. As we've completed our formal business, I hereby declare the NextEra Energy annual meeting of shareholders to be adjourned. I would now like to briefly review our 2017 results, as well as the transactions we announced earlier this week, following which there will be additional time for questions if needed. You should be aware that this discussion could include forward-looking statements that are based on current expectations and assumptions, which are subject to risks and uncertainties. You can find our risk factors in our annual report, which is available in this room in our investor relations website when you click on SEC Filings. As I mentioned earlier, the company you own had a terrific year in 2017. At Florida Power & Light, we delivered our best-ever service reliability performance while maintaining a typical customer bill that is more than 25% below the national average.
The lowest among the top 10 investor-owned utilities by market cap. We completed construction on schedule and under budget of the first four 74.5-megawatt solar energy centers governed by the solar base rate adjustment mechanism of our rate case settlement agreement. We secured potential sites that could support more than five gigawatts of FPL's ongoing solar expansion. We remained on schedule and on budget for the approximately 1,750-megawatt Okeechobee Clean Energy Center, and we made progress in securing regulatory approval for the Dania Beach Clean Energy Center. FPL also responded to the largest hurricane event our company had ever faced. Hurricane Irma impacted all 35 counties and 27,000 sq mi of FPL's service territory, causing more than 4.4 million customers to lose power.
Thanks in part to our investments since 2006 in hardening and automation to build a stronger, smarter, and more storm-reliant, resilient energy grid, we were able to restore power to more than 2 million customers in one day and to restore power to all 4.4 million customers impacted by Irma in 10 days. The efforts of our team resulted in the fastest restoration of the largest amount of people by any one utility in U.S. history. At NextEra Energy Resources, 2017 was the best period for new wind and solar origination in our history. The energy resources team added more than 2,700 megawatts of new renewable projects to our backlog, including the largest combined solar and storage facility in the U.S. announced at that time, and roughly 700 megawatts of additional wind repowering added to our backlog.
Over the course of the year, we commissioned roughly 2,150 megawatts of wind and solar projects in the U.S., including the first approximately 1,600 megawatts of our repowering program. 2017 was also an excellent year for energy resources natural gas pipeline activities. During the year, both the Sabal Trail Transmission and Florida Southeast Connection natural gas pipeline projects successfully achieved commercial operation, both on budget and on schedule. The Mountain Valley Pipeline also made excellent progress over the year, we remain on track to achieve a year-end 2018 commercial operations date. Financially, NextEra Energy was able to grow 2017 adjusted EPS by 8.2% and extend our long-term track record of delivering results for shareholders.
Dating back to 2005, we've delivered compound annual growth and adjusted EPS of over 8%, which is the highest among all top 10 power companies in the U.S., who've achieved on average compound annual growth of 2.9% over the same period. In 2017, we delivered a total shareholder return of over 34%, outperforming the S&P 500 by roughly 15% and the S&P 500 Utilities Index by more than 25%. Over the last 10 years, we've outperformed 79% of the S&P 500 Utilities Index companies and 63% of the companies in the S&P 500. We are once again honored to be named for the 11th time in 12 years, number 1 in the electric and gas utilities industry on Fortune's 2018 list of the world's most admired companies. NextEra Energy was the fourth largest capital investor in any industry in the U.S. in 2017.
We believe we are well-positioned as the largest, most capable clean energy infrastructure company in North America. Shareholders can read more about our 2017 results in the annual report and on our website. NextEra Energy is off to a strong start in 2018, I'd like to take a few moments to discuss the transactions we announced Monday with Southern Company to acquire Gulf Power, Florida City Gas, and ownership stakes in two natural gas plants in Florida. Subject to regulatory approvals, we expect the transactions will provide substantial benefits to both customers and shareholders. These attractive electric and natural gas franchises are an excellent complement to our existing operations within the state of Florida.
We expect that these transactions will expand our regulated business operations. Over time, allow us to extend our best-in-class value proposition of low bills, clean energy, high reliability, and outstanding customer service to roughly 600,000 additional customers in Florida. For shareholders, as we announced on Monday, we expect that the transactions will be accretive to NextEra Energy's adjusted EPS expectations in 2020 and 2021. We anticipate further favorable adjustments to our credit metric thresholds as a result of the expansion of our company's regulated operations, which will allow us to continue to maintain our $5 billion-$7 billion of excess balance sheet capacity while preserving NextEra Energy's strong current credit ratings going forward. With that, I'll now open the floor for questions, if there are any, about our 2017 performance, the proposed transactions, or any issue of concern to shareholders. The same rules apply that we followed earlier.
Please state your name and the number of shares you own. Address your question to me. In the interest of fairness, limit your questions or comments to no more than two minutes. Are there any comments or questions? In that case, thank you very much for being with us today. Please travel safely as you head home. Enjoy the rest of your day. Thank you.