Daniel TilsonGov. Rick Scott and his minions proved last week that they view middle-class Florida consumers as mostly slow-witted turkeys ready to be roasted to a crisp and gobbled up by corporate gluttons.
While most of us were distracted by shopping, cooking, traveling and other Thanksgiving preparations, Scott’s hand-picked five-member Public Service Commission (PSC) voted to put the wants and wishes of Florida’s energy monopolies ahead of the needs of nearly 19 million Floridians.
First, they followed the lead of Scott’s commissioner of agriculture and consumer services, Adam Putnam. In his biggest, boldest move since energy policy was added to his job description a while back, Putnam sought elimination of solar system rebates for homeowners.
You see, Florida’s four investor-owned utilities – Florida Power & Light, Duke Energy, Gulf Power and Tampa Electric – want complete control over development and expansion of solar power.
If independent solar companies were allowed to engage in free-market competition and increasing numbers of homeowners and small businesses were incentivized to go solar, energy monopoly profit margins might take a hit. Pressure might also mount to let people sell excess energy generated by their systems back to the utilities, or other consumers.
Big Energy and allies such as Scott and Putnam respond by saying it’s only wealthy folks who get solar rebates, claiming everybody else ends up having to pay higher rates as a result.
What they don’t dare mention is that proper regulation of wildly profitable Big Energy would protect the general public from that kind of cost shifting and rate gouging.
FPL and Duke and the rest would still be raking in huge profits … just not quite as huge; a small price to pay for putting the human needs of the great many above the profit targets of the precious few.
If only we had a middle-class-friendly governor, commissioner of consumer services, and Public Service Commission standing up together to Big Energy, telling it like it is and looking out for us.
But for now, we’re stuck with the exact opposite in Scott, Putnam, and a PSC that made another, even more startlingly anti-middle-class move last week.
As longed and lobbied for so hard by Big Energy, the PSC voted 3-2 to cut Florida’s already meager energy-efficiency requirements in coming years by 90 percent.
That leaves Florida in 47th place nationally when it comes to energy efficiency.
You see Florida Big Energy makes its biggest profits out of controlling, generating and selling electric power. Pushing for greater energy efficiency and helping consumers and businesses generate and perhaps sell their excess power are threats to their business model, plain and simple.
And so we have no renewable energy plan, standards or goals to speak of anymore in Florida.
Millions of dollars in campaign contributions to Scott, Putnam and other leading Republicans running the Florida Legislature and state government have paid off.
Big Energy calls all the plays now.
Helping consumers gain energy independence is not in their playbook.
Neither is slowing down the pace of climate change and preparing for its impact.
Popular plays include charging customers “recovery fees” in advance for nuclear plant development and other projects that might never be started or finished; new power lines running through densely populated urban and suburban neighborhoods; and expanded reliance on natural gas flowing through dangerously unprotected pipelines.
Folks, if ever an independent investigation into public-private collusion at the expense of the general public was in order, it’s here and now, in Florida.
Daniel Tilson has a Boca Raton-based communications firm called Full Cup Media, specializing in online video and written content for non-profits, political candidates and organizations, and small businesses. Column courtesy of Context Florida.
