Good morning, everyone. Good morning. Welcome to the Annual Meeting of the Shareholders of NextEra Energy. I'm Jim Robo, Chairman and CEO, and I hereby call this meeting to order. Let me begin by thanking all of you for attending this meeting or for listening via webcast.
The company you own had a very strong year in 2018. 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 for questions if needed, 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 the senior officers of NextEra Energy, Ford Power and Light, Gulf Power and NextEra Energy Resources. I'd like to introduce our directors who are joining me today as nominees for election. I'll ask that each stand as their name is called. Sherry Barrett, the retired Chairman of Northern Trust Vice Chairman of Northern Trust Corporation, a financial holding company headquartered in Chicago. Sherry has been a Director since 1998.
Jim Cameron, 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. Narayan Gersakhani, former President and CEO of ADT, a provider security systems and services. Nurain has been a Director since 2014. Kirk Hatchikin, former Chairman and CEO of JELD WEN Inc. And former Chairman and CEO of Cooper Industries.
Kirk has been a Director since 2013. Tony Jennings, Chairman of Jack Jennings and Son, a family owned construction business and the former Lieutenant Governor of Florida. Tony has been a Director since 2007. Amy Lane, the retired Managing Director and Director since 2015. Rudy Shupp, retired President of Valley National Bancorp and Chief Banking Officer of Valley National Bank.
Rudy has been a Director since 2,005. Jack Scholes, 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. And Daryl Wilson, Retired Vice President of GE Power. Daryl has been a Director since 2018. And here today, our independent auditors, Deloitte and Touche, representing the firm this morning are John Fly and Alison Taylor.
Now let's get to the formal business of the meeting, which will include a description of the items of business that requires approval of shareholders, a discussion of those items only and a vote on those items. When we finish the formal business, I'll adjourn the meeting and then as I said, I'll give a brief review of our 2018 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 4 simple guidelines. 1, we will follow the order of business set out in the agenda. 2, because this is a meeting of shareholders, the opportunity to participate is limited to those who own shares of NextEra Energy or their representatives.
3, 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 2 minutes. 4, 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, so we have a quorum.
Thanks, Charlie. We have 4 items of business today, including 1 shareholder proposal. If that shareholder or representative is here to present it. Item number 1 is the election's directors of the nominees specified in the proxy statement. Item number 2 is the ratification of the appointment Deloitte and Touche LLP as NextEra Energy's independent registered public accounting firm for 2019.
Item 3 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 4 is proposed by the Comptroller of the State of New York as the trustee of the New York State Common Retirement Fund. Is the proponent or representative of the proponent here today? Please step to the microphone, introduce yourself and present your proposal.
Mr. Chairman, my name is John Albanese. I'm here today on behalf of the New York State Common Retirement Fund holder of 1,407,200 NextEra Energy Shares. I'm here 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 policies 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 and 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. And therefore, on behalf of the New York State Common Retirement Fund, I submit the resolution on political disclosure found in your proxy materials. Thank you.
Thank you. I declare that Item Number 4 is properly presented. We'll now have a discussion on these 4 items of business selling. 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 will be an opportunity 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? Seeing no questions and since under our bylaws, no other nominations or proposals would be timely, we'll now conduct a 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 1, the election of directors, all nominees received at least 93% of the votes cast and therefore, all of them have been elected. On Item 2, approximately 96 percent of the votes cast have approved Deloitte and Touche as our independent registered public accounting firm for 2019, so the appointment has been ratified.
On item 3, where the 93% of the votes cast approved by non binding advisory vote, the compensation of our named executive officers, so the compensation has been approved. On Item 4, 51.3 percent of the votes cast are against the shareholder related to political contributions disclosure, so that proposal 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 2018 results, 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 and our Investor Relations website when you click on SEC filings.
My review also includes references to non GAAP financial measures. Please visit the supplemental resources section of our Investor Relations website for reconciliations to the closest GAAP financial measure. As I mentioned earlier, the company you own had a terrific year in 2018. At Florida Power and Light, we delivered our best ever service reliability performance, while maintaining a typical customer bill that was 30% below the national average and roughly 5% below the level that it was in 2,008. FPL successfully executed on its ongoing capital plan, which includes one of the largest solar expansions in the history of the United States.
And in 2018, after nearly 10 year process, FPL closed on the purchase of the city of Vero Beach's municipal electric system and welcomed about 35,000 Vero Beach customers to the FPL service territory. We also closed the transactions we announced last year with Southern Company. We completed the acquisition of Florida City Gas and the ownership stakes in 2 natural gas plants in Florida in 2018 and very early in 2019, we closed on our acquisition of Gulf Power and took on the responsibility of serving its roughly 460,000 customers in Florida's Panhandle. At NextEra Energy Resources, 2018 was another historic year for renewables origination at our company. Our team added approximately 6,500 megawatts of new renewable projects to our backlog, including storage and repowering projects, which represents nearly twice as many megawatts as we originated in 2017, which was our previous record year.
Financially, NextEra Energy was able to grow 2018 adjusted adjusted EPS by approximately 15% and extend our long term track record of delivering results for shareholders. Over the last 15 years, we've delivered compound annual growth and adjusted EPS of nearly 8%, which is the highest among all top 10 U. S. Power companies who have achieved on average roughly 3% compound annual growth over the same period. In 2018, we delivered a total shareholder return of over 14%, outperforming the S and P 500 by nearly 19% and the S and P 500 Utilities Index by more than 10%.
Over the last 15 years, we have outperformed every one of the companies in the S and P 500 Utilities Index and 82% of the companies in the S and P 500. We are once again honored to be named for the 12th time in 13 years, number 1 in the electric and gas utilities industry on Fortune's 2019 list of world's most admired companies. NextEra Energy was the 5th largest capital investor in the United States in 2018 across all industries. And we believe we are well positioned as the largest and most capable clean energy infrastructure company in North America. Shareholders can read more about our 2018 results in the annual report and on our website.
With that, I'll now open the floor for questions if there are any. 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 2 minutes. Are there any questions or comments?
Okay. Seeing none, in that case, thank you very much for being with us today. Please travel safely as you head home and enjoy the rest of your day. Thank you very much.