Florida Public Service Commission

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.

The Florida Public Service Commission began what could be a two-week hearing as FPL seeks to increase base electric rates.

Opponents of the proposed settlement want the Florida Public Service Commission to consider the counter proposal. Commission Chair Mike La Rosa on Sept. 12 denied the request.

Data centers are one of the biggest issues in the utility industry nationally, as power companies look for ways to meet the demands of data centers that play a key role in such things as artificial intelligence and cloud computing.

Florida Power & Light and 10 key stakeholder groups filed a comprehensive four-year rate settlement agreement with state regulators that reduces FPL's original revenue request by approximately 30%.