The Florida Public Service Commission (Commission or PSC) today voted to terminate Florida Power & Light Company’s (FPL) Sunshine Energy Program and place any future customer contributions to the program into an escrow account. PSC Commissioners further directed staff to continue to pursue an audit of how the funds were utilized by Green Mountain Energy Company, a third party renewable contractor. The results of this audit will be considered in a future Commission proceeding.
FPL submitted a plan to modify the program, but the Commission directed the company to terminate the program instead. A prior Commission staff audit of the program indicated that only 20 percent of the $11.4 million collected from customers was applied to developing renewable energy facilities. The majority of the collected funds were alleged to have been used for marketing and administrative costs.
More than 38,000 customers voluntarily contributed to the program for almost five years. Participating residential and commercial customers made a $9.75 monthly contribution to the Sunshine Energy Program to promote the development of renewable energy. For every 10,000 residential customers who signed up for Sunshine Energy, FPL was to develop an additional 150kw of solar power in Florida.
FPL began offering its Sunshine Energy Program as a voluntary pilot green pricing program when the PSC approved it in December 2003. The pilot program was made permanent in November 2006.
The PSC is committed to making sure that Florida's consumers receive their electric, natural gas, telephone, water, and wastewater services in a safe, affordable, and reliable manner. The PSC exercises regulatory authority over utilities in the areas of rate base/economic regulation; competitive market oversight; and the monitoring of safety, reliability, and service.
For additional information, visit www.floridapsc.com.
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