Floridians could pay billions to power companies to stormproof the grid
Those billions will be paid solely by Floridians. Even with some reductions by the commission, the amount bills will go up wasn't substantively changed.
The planning process started months before
State statutes require these plans be submitted for 10-year periods, and that the plans must "explain the systematic approach the utility will follow" to reduce how much it costs to restore power during outages from extreme or severe weather, and enhance the reliability of the power grid.
The proposals were examined and responded to with what amounts to counteroffers by the
The
Despite a back and forth between the OPC and each company, a member of the consumer legal counsel said further revision of the costs to consumers amounted to a small change.
While minor reductions were applied to the filings by FPL and TECO, Rehwinkel told WFLA.com that "The commission made no changes to their plans that affect 2023 so they were only required to file a letter saying that there was no change to the 2023 clause numbers."
According to FPSC, commission's "annual cost recovery clause hearings will begin at
Process for approval
The five members of the
The commissioners are set to vote on all four proposals for storm protection plans in November. Each plan will cover 10 years of power system and grid needs by the public companies, with three year incremental rate increase proposals. Each company sent a proposal, and the
If the commission approves the plans, they are enacted with no further governmental regulation, aside from a legislative requirement to report on activity and completion progress, in addition to actual costs and rate hikes.
An
"In its decision, the Commission removed some proposed programs because they appeared to be routine utility functions rather than storm hardening functions," the commission announced. "As a result, the investor-owned utilities (IOUs) will file amended plans within 15 days, or by
During a three day hearing process in mid-November, the PSC will review cost recovery options for the four power companies to enact the protection plans.
"As required in the storm protection law, PSC rules established a separate cost recovery mechanism for storm protection activities," commissioners announced. "IOUs may seek PSC approval to recover incremental costs annually—in a separate recovery clause—similar to their request for fuel cost recovery."
With the vote coming in about a month, and modified proposals submitted by the OPC approved by FPSC on Tuesday, storm damage from Hurricane Ian has led to some letters of support by county commissioners across
Citing damage from Hurricane Ian, Kruse said that while he is a "strong advocate for small government and typically take the side of lower taxes, rates and fees whenever possible," it was "fundamental" for citizens' safety to be provided for.
"We have once again witnessed the frustration of all our residents as their power goes out for an extended period of time. It disrupts business, it lowers the quality of life of our citizens and it causes issues with our infrastructure, lift stations and schools," Kruse wrote in part. "We should be encouraging our utility providers to maximize the funding and speed of hardening all our systems as we see these storms continue to come stronger and more frequently."
As an end result to the decisions of the
By proposed cost, FPUC was the smallest by dollar amount. Before reductions proposed by staff from OPC, the power company requested approval for a plan totaling
* Distribution — Overhead Feeder Hardening
* Distribution — Overhead Lateral Hardening
* Distribution — Overhead Lateral Undergrounding
* Distribution — Pole Inspection & Replace
* T & D — Vegetation Management
* Future T&D Enhancements
* Transmission/Substation Resiliency
* Transmission — Inspection and Hardening
* SPP Program Management
Instead, OPC staff made a counterproposal for a total of
Had FPUC's proposal been approved without modification, commercial customers would have seen their bills rise by 23.34% through 2025. Industrial bills, by comparison, would have risen 9.21% in the same time period. The increases, had they been approved, would have meant residential bills going up at least
Based on inflationary pressures, OPC staff said those increases were too high, and asked for alternatives to be implemented that would reduce the rate increases' impacts on customers. Vote records from
As a result, FPUC's amended filing said the new projected expenses "do not include costs for either of the removed programs," and so the storm protection plan cost recovery clause of their proposal was financially unchanged.
While FPUC asked for
The proposal from TECO would have customer rates increase by 3.82% over three years for residential power, while industrial bills would have increased by a slightly smaller amount at 3.56%. Month to month, residential bills would have gone up by roughly
Whereas FPUC asked for its millions to pay for things like distribution, environmental management, and future maintenance, TECO asked for its
* Distribution Lateral Undergrounding
* Substation Extreme Weather (Distribution & Transmission)
* Distribution Overhead Feeder Hardening
* Transmission Access Enhancement
Funding proposals for the substation extreme weather needs, and the transmission access enhancements were outright rejected by OPC staff while reducing the proposal due to lack of compliance with state regulations. Specifically, as with FPUC's rule issues, lack of compliance with 25-6.030. Citing that rule, OPC staff said TECO's proposal had a "flawed" costs and benefits comparison.
Representatives for TECO said that assessment was incorrect. Further discussion in the responding documents had TECO saying their proposal matched risk and benefit analysis requirements of the state statutes. The proposal, modified by OPC staff, moved to the next step, a vote.
Power companies TECO, FPL, and
During an
Commissioner
"We have a plan that seems to be working, the effects that we have seen, the early, preliminary results we have seen over the past two years have had very positive effects on increasing resiliency," Clark said. "We also have a mandate from the legislature to look at these costs and see what was feasible, what was prudent."
He said some of the plan's items did not "fit the definition of storm hardening."
Following further discussion, the commission voted 3-1, approving the plan as proposed, with two changes. The transmission access enhancement portion was removed, and per the motion by Commissioner
Even with modifications approved on
TECO filed an amended proposal on
Like FPUC and TECO,
Funding recommendations were reduced to zero for proposal items self-optimizing grid, underground flood mitigation, substation flood mitigation, loop radially fed substations, and substation hardening.
Funding proposals for feeder hardening and lateral hardening were approved but reduced, citing the need to limit the impact of costs to customers. Costs in the proposal for structure hardening efforts were approved, though reduced, based on lack of compliance with SPP rules, according to documents provided by the OPC.
As far as rates, had Duke's proposal been approved outright, residential customers will see their bills go up by
Commercial customers, businesses, would have their bills per month increase by up between 3.7% and 4.3%. Industrial customers, by comparison, will see their bills rise by between 3.1% and 4.5%.
Like with FPUC,
Following the approval with modification,
In addition to the increases to cover the Storm Protection Plan cost recovery, a Duke spokesperson told 8 On Your Side's
Additionally, the representative said
The largest proposed funding amount for a single protection plan of the four utility companies was submitted by
Of the power companies making storm protection proposals, FPL had the fewest individual items reduced or removed by OPC in the counter-proposal. Funds for distribution lateral hardening were reduced by roughly
The reduction for hardening was made to limit the impact on customers' bills, while the storm surge and access provisions were cut for lack of compliance with SPP rules, according to the OPC document.
Based on the initial proposal from FPL, customers could have seen rates go up less than a full cent per month per year, over three years, for residential bills. Commercial and industrial customers had more expensive increases in the proposal from 2023 to 2025, but nothing all were less than
For residential customers, cost increases were proposed at between
The FPL documentation reviewed by OPC would mean a potential 40% rate increase from 2023 to 2024 for residents, before going up to 65% higher by 2025.
Commercial customers, by the same calculation, would potentially see bills go up between
OPC's Rehwinkel told WFLA.com that for FPL, the "Original 2023- only projected revenue requirement (after removing the winterization program)
According to Rehwinkel, "customer impact of the vote was
Speaking with WFLA Investigative Reporter
"Not included in these bill projections are the higher-than-expected fuel prices in 2022 which are not reflected in today's rates, as well as costs associated with FPL's hurricane responses in 2022," FPL said in its response. They also clarified that should the SPP cost recovery plan be approved, proposed charges could be revisited later.
Spread across the company's 5.6 million customers in
The cost recovery proposals from each power company only include tentative three year increases, which can be revisited again after approval, multiple times.
"The Storm Protection Plan Cost Recovery Clause is reviewed on an annual basis," FPL said in a statement. "The proposed charge is included in the proposed bill for next year and is one of many cost recovery charges subject to Thursday's PSC hearing."
The hearings on cost recovery for all four companies will start
Each company that submitted SPP Cost Recovery plans will be able to revisit the accompanying charges annually.
Due to the cost recovery status being pending, the commissioners are unable to provide comment on the process or their votes. WFLA Investigative Reporter
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