Florida Public Service Commission

The law mandates that Florida utility customers won’t bear the additional costs brought by new large scale data centers.

If you compare your electric bill from last month to one from a few years ago, you’d probably see a jump. Our three-part investigation digs into why. The reporters tell us how they dug.

When utilities want to raise rates or recoup costs, they have to go before the Florida Public Service Commission for approval.

The suggested change came after Tampa Electric customers paid the highest June electric bills in the nation for investor-owned utilities serving over 100,000 customers.

The case before Florida's Public Service Commission is weighing whether Duke Energy plans to do enough to shield customers from the costs of data centers, including one planned for Fort Meade.

Consumer advocates say residential ratepayers could see their bills go up substantially, while Duke says shareholders — and not customers — would pay up if a massive data facility were unable to pay its serving costs.

Utility profit margins are one reason why electricity bills are rising, the report says. Advocates say low-income communities are hardest-hit by the costs.

Republicans advocating for the preemption say clean energy efforts are more costly than fossil fuel use, despite Tampa recently showing significant savings from such practices.

The Affordable Energy Reform Act would make electricity rate hike cases more transparent, cap utility returns on equity and tie company profits to efficiency.

The Florida Public Service Commission approved the rate increase Thursday for Florida Power & Light, the state's largest power company, over the strong objections of various groups.

This month, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced the appointments of a PSC aide and a former Republican state representative to the commission.

The state Public Service Commission is scheduled Nov. 20 to decide whether to approve a proposed settlement that FPL reached with numerous businesses and groups.