Florida Public Service Commission preserves utility cost-saving rule

The Florida Public Service Commission (PSC) voted 4-1 to maintain a utility cost-saving measure, preventing a proposed amendment that would have likely increased electricity bills for millions of residents.

The decision preserves Rule 25-14.004, which allows residential and small business ratepayers to benefit from tax breaks associated with the debt of a utility’s parent company that is embedded within the utility subsidiary.

Advocacy groups, including Food & Water Watch, the Hillsborough Affordable Energy Coalition, and the Power Floridians Can Afford Coalition, successfully urged the commission to reject the amendment. These organizations argued that the rule protects consumers from higher costs by ensuring that the financial benefits of the subsidiary-parent relationship are passed on to ratepayers.