Ballot Proposal Would Revamp Florida Utility Industry

December 30, 2018

A political committee has spent nearly $400,000 in recent months and submitted 33,863 valid petition signatures as it tries to get a measure on the 2020 ballot that would revamp Florida’s electric utility industry.

The proposal, backed by a committee called Citizens for Energy Choices, calls for wholesale and retail electricity markets to “be fully competitive so that electricity customers are afforded meaningful choices among a wide variety of competing electricity providers.”

It would establish a right for customers to choose electricity providers and would limit the role of investor-owned electric utilities — private companies such as Florida Power & Light, Duke Energy Florida, Tampa Electric Co. and Gulf Power Co. — to constructing, operating and repairing transmission and distribution systems..

Citizens for Energy Choices registered with the state Division of Elections in late September and had spent $396,515 as of Nov 30, according to state records. It had raised $434,000, all of which came from the organization Coalition for Energy Choice, Inc.

Committees will need to submit hundreds of thousands of valid petition signatures to get proposed constitutional amendments on the 2020 ballot. During the 2018 elections, they needed to submit 766,200 valid signatures.

by The News Service of Florida

Comments

6 Responses to “Ballot Proposal Would Revamp Florida Utility Industry”

  1. Wilykyote on January 2nd, 2019 8:58 am

    Be interesting who the donors are in this “Political Commitee”.
    If we have choices anyone gonna choose the highest rates?
    All I want is Electricity at a fair cost. Solar,wind,hydropower,
    gas,coal,wood …I don’t care , if it works don’t fix it. And this
    Putting it on the ballot is a ruse !

  2. William on December 30th, 2018 2:55 pm

    >>>Don’t forget GULF POWER has changed hands and is not owned ny Southern Company anymore.

    Gulf Power is selling to NextEra Energy, but the sale is not yet final. Still in the regulatory and closing process. It’s currently still owned by Southern Company.

  3. Martin on December 30th, 2018 1:27 pm

    Don’t forget GULF POWER has changed hands and is not owned ny Southern Company anymore. But from working most storms around this area of Northwest Florida all the way to South Florida and dealing with Co-Op’s the Storm response is not as quick as Gulf Power’s is. And if Line Maintance is reduced and there is a problem and you have no power well you will have to wait for the Power Commity to sit and discuss whether or not to fix or repair your line. And Gulf Power does have some of the cheaper rates. But remember be careful what you wish for.

  4. Jdub on December 30th, 2018 10:12 am

    This is so stupid! These people don’t realize that this will cause energy cost to be more. One would have to pay for delivery of power, maintenance fees and more to have a “choice” on top of paying for your kilowatt hours used. I seriously doubt this will pass. But it could….this past election other stupid amendment changes passed because of lack of informed voters giving away more of our rights to choose.

  5. SW on December 30th, 2018 7:27 am

    Use Texas as a model.

  6. joy bryant on December 30th, 2018 7:23 am

    I would love to be able to have a choice of power companies – there is supposed to be competition and no monopolies – that is certainly not the case – we have zero choice in utility companies and get ripped off! Gulf Power was supposed to have a drop in prices – MINE WENT UP – and I freeze in the winter and sweat in the summer —- so Bring it on!!