State stacks deck against public in FPL rate case

Julie Brown is the new secretary of the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation. What does her appointment have to do with Florida Power & Light’s request for roughly $2 billion more from customers over the next four years?

More than you might think.

Last month, Gov. DeSantis named Brown to run DPBR, which regulates roughly one million businesses and individuals, from restaurants to veterinarians. Being secretary is a plum job in state government.

When DeSantis chose Brown, she was nearing the end of her maximum 12 years on the Florida Public Service Commission, which primarily regulates electric utilities, such as FPL. It’s another plum job.

In choosing Brown, DeSantis noted her work as a lawyer before joining the PSC and her time as commission chairman. Brown, the governor said, “brings a unique blend of experience in the private and public sectors.”

Beyond those qualifications, though, Brown brings a record of near-total support for issues FPL had before the commission. We read Brown’s new job as a reward for favoring a company and an industry that donated roughly $4 million during Florida’s 2020 election cycle.

Indeed, DeSantis said he wants Brown to “cut red tape and ease regulations on our businesses and hard-working Floridians.”

This is one more example of the inside political game that amounts to “regulation” of utilities. Just before Brown’s appointment came a more significant example.

An 11-member legislative committee named Richard Gentry to run the Office of Public Counsel. The office represents consumers in utility rate hearings.

During his appearance before the committee, Gentry said all the right things. “If I were fortunate enough to be selected for this important role,” Gentry told the legislators, “my philosophy would be very simple — in all cases, get the best deal for the ratepayers of Florida.”

Until now, however, Gentry has not focused on consumers. He spent decades as a lobbyist for homebuilders and the sugar and gambling industries.

Four people applied for the position. By selection time, however, two had dropped out, including the only applicant with a record of challenging the utilities.

The Legislature and Florida’s investor-owned utilities never have been closer. One legislative committee chooses the Public Counsel. Another, which has six legislators and six other members whom the Senate president and House speaker appoint, recommends finalists for the Public Service Commission to the governor.

In theory, the Legislature is supposed to ensure that consumers have a strong advocate in the Public Counsel. Reality seems to be otherwise.

As one more example of the gamesmanship afoot before FPL’s rate hearing, consider the newest member of the PSC: Michael La Rosa, a former state representative. According to the Miami Herald, while La Rosa was still in the Florida House, he co-authored a letter to the PSC with Senate President Wilton Simpson, R-Trilby. They were supporting FPL’s Solar Together program.

FPL proposed to expand its solar capacity by building 20 small plants. FPL wanted customers to pay the nearly $2 billion cost of construction. Those who participated would supposedly get credits later on.

But Kelly and even the PSC staff — which normally is also utility-friendly — opposed the plan. They argued that too much risk would fall on customers who didn’t sign up.

“To be clear,” the Office of Public Counsel wrote, “citizens are in favor of solar and bona fide plans to improve Florida’s environmental condition; however, citizens do not favor forcing the vast majority of customers to fund vanity projects and take on all risks of those projects which primarily benefit only a few participants.”

La Rosa and Simpson disagreed. “There is little doubt in our mind that the Public Counsel has a direct conflict in opposing the customers who wish to subscribe to this program. Moreover, the evidence filed in the docket and reviewed by our staff clearly indicates that this voluntary, customer-driven community solar program will also provide long-term benefits for those ratepayers who do not wish to subscribe to the program.”

As the Herald reported, one month after sending that letter, Simpson sponsored a bill to impose 12-year term limits on the Public Counsel. Not coincidentally, Kelly had served for 13 years.

The bill allowed Kelly to apply, but it was clear that he wouldn’t get the job. FPL donated $400,000 to the committee that Simpson used to become Senate president.

The Public Service Commission Nominating Council now will take applicants for those who want Brown’s seat. We aren’t optimistic. Before La Rosa, former Gov. Rick Scott chose Andrew Fay, who had been an aide to ex-Attorney General Pam Bondi. She protected Donald Trump more than average Floridians.

So a rookie commissioner will be one of five people ruling on FPL’s request for $1.1 billion more in 2022, $607 million more in 2023 and $140 million more in 2024 and 2025. A rookie Public Counsel with no credible record of consumer advocacy will represent ratepayers.

Several groups that represent, among others, Florida’s retailers and industrial companies, will file briefs in the rate case. Those “businesses and hard-working Floridians” DeSantis cited need a system that isn’t stacked against them. Clearly, however, they are the outsiders.

Editorials are the opinion of the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board and written by one of its members or a designee. The Editorial Board consists of Editorial Page Editor Rosemary O’Hara, Dan Sweeney, Steve Bousquet and Editor-in-Chief Julie Anderson.