Florida Power & Light on Friday fired back at a renewed request for state regulators to consider a "counter proposal" to a proposed settlement that would increase the utility's base electric rates.
Opponents of the proposed settlement, including the state Office of Public Counsel, which is designated by law to represent utility customers, want the Florida Public Service Commission to consider the counter proposal. Commission Chair Mike La Rosa on Sept. 12 denied the request, but the Office of Public Counsel and its allies are seeking reconsideration of that decision.
But in a 32-page document filed Friday, FPL argued the "request for reconsideration collapses under even the most cursory scrutiny and falls far beneath the legal threshold required to warrant reconsideration before this commission. Moreover, even assuming … that their request met the standard required for reconsideration, which it does not, the (opponents') arguments are legally indefensible and wholly without merit."
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The sparring about the counter proposal has come as the regulatory commission prepares for the Oct. 6 start of what could be a two-week hearing on FPL's proposed four-year settlement, which it reached in August with numerous businesses and groups. The hearing will include complex financial and technical issues and likely will be contentious.
After the FPL settlement was proposed, the Office of Public Counsel and consumer groups last month filed a competing settlement proposal that, in part, would lead to smaller rate increases. But La Rosa, acting as a prehearing officer in the case, dismissed the counter proposal, ruling that FPL is an "indispensable party to any settlement."
Attorneys for the opponents on Sept. 19 filed a motion for reconsideration, saying the Florida Supreme Court has never ruled on whether a utility would have to be a party to a settlement.
"If the commission were to find that the terms of the (counter proposal) were in the public interest, and that the (counter proposal) would result in fair, just, and reasonable rates, then the commission would have just as much authority to approve it without FPL's consent or over FPL's objection," the motion for reconsideration said.
READ MORE: FPL says proposed base-rate increases will provide stability while critics call it 'extravagant'
Also, the motion said the regulatory commission's authority to set utility rates is "not conditioned on any party's approval or absence of objection, including FPL."
But in the document filed Friday, FPL said "there simply is no authority or precedent to support the proposition that the commission can resolve a contested matter by approving a settlement or stipulation that does not include the utility in question."
"This approach, if permitted, would open the floodgates to multiple competing 'settlements' among differently aligned intervenors that do not include the utility," FPL attorneys wrote. "In other words, intervenors representing endless combinations of aligned interests could settle with themselves — all in the same proceeding and without the utility — in multiple versions of 'settlements.' This approach to 'settlement' defies logic because it does not result in the resolution of a dispute between opposing parties — it merely memorializes an agreement among aligned parties."
FPL filed an initial rate proposal in February but scaled it back in the proposed settlement filed Aug. 20. FPL reached its proposed settlement with the Florida Industrial Power Users Group; the Florida Retail Federation; the Florida Energy for Innovation Association; Americans for Affordable Clean Energy; the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy; Walmart Inc.; EVgo Services, LLC; Circle K Stores, Inc.; RaceTrac Inc.; Wawa, Inc.; Electrify America, LLC; Armstrong World Industries, Inc.; and federal government agencies.
The proposed settlement would lead to base-rate increases of $945 million in 2026 and $766 million in 2027, according to the utility. FPL also would collect additional amounts in 2028 and 2029 for solar-energy and battery-storage projects.
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The counter proposal, which was filed Aug. 26, would have resulted in increases of $867 million in 2026 and $403 million in 2027. It also would have left open the possibility of FPL seeking increases of an estimated $195 million in 2028 and $174 million in 2029 for generation-related projects that could include solar and battery projects.
The Office of Public Counsel and its allies said the FPL proposal could lead to cumulative increases over four years of $6.903 billion, while the counter proposal would total $5.241 billion.
Along with the Office of Public Counsel, the counter proposal was filed by the groups Florida Rising, the League of United Latin American Citizens of Florida, Environmental Confederation of Southwest Florida and Floridians Against Increased Rates
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