Staff Reports
As Florida enters the height of hurricane season, grid reliability is top of mind. However, with fast-paced growth and rising costs, energy affordability is becoming an increasingly important part of the conversation.
Florida Power & Light (FPL), the state’s largest electric utility, has submitted a new four-year rate proposal to the Florida Public Service Commission (PSC). The details are still under negotiation and will be the subject of public hearings beginning August 11.
The plan aims to balance the cost of significant infrastructure investments with long-term rate predictability for customers across the state.
Since 2006, FPL has improved its system reliability by 40%, placing it among the top-performing utilities in the nation. In 2024 alone, smart-grid and self-healing technologies helped avoid 2.7 million outages, including more than 800,000 during Hurricanes Debby, Helene, and Milton.
These upgrades, along with expanded efforts to bury power lines and harden poles, are designed to reduce storm-related outages and speed up recovery.
In Brevard County, dozens of projects are already underway to prepare the grid ahead of peak hurricane activity.
In its February filing with the PSC, FPL stated that the proposed rate plan would support continued investment in critical infrastructure and smart-grid technologies, as well as low-cost solar, battery storage, and nuclear generation, to help meet growing demand and protect customers from fuel price volatility.
Even with the proposed increases, FPL notes that residential bills would remain well below the national average. Adjusted for inflation, the typical 2026 bill would still be about 20 percent lower than it was in 2006. Business customers are projected to see average annual increases between one and five percent. The company cites inflation in labor, equipment, and materials as key cost drivers, with transformer prices more than doubling since 2021.
FPL’s rate proposal is also tied to Florida’s broader economic outlook, particularly the state’s growing digital infrastructure. With a newly extended sales-tax exemption for data centers through 2037, state leaders are positioning Florida as a top destination for large-scale digital investment. According to former PSC Chair Lila Jaber, a 600-megawatt data center campus could have more than 30 times the economic impact of Amazon’s fulfillment center in Tallahassee.
Supporters of data centers argue that including their rates in FPL’s current proposal is crucial to providing companies with the certainty they need to invest in Florida now, rather than risk losing those projects to faster-moving states.
Last week, the Florida Supreme Court upheld PSC’s approval of FPL’s 2021 rate settlement, affirming the Commission’s role in ensuring utility decisions are grounded in evidence and subject to public oversight.
The ruling, in a six-to-one decision, found that regulators acted on competent and substantial evidence.
The outcome of this rate case may have implications beyond monthly electric bills, potentially influencing the state’s long-term approach to energy and infrastructure planning.
