AARP Florida files request to intervene in FPL’s $1.34-billion proposed rate increase case

Public welcome to offer testimony on the company’s request when Florida Public Service Commission holds hearing on June 3 in Sarasota

Image from the Public Service Commission website
Image from the Public Service Commission website

AARP Florida has filed a request to formally intervene in Florida Power & Light Co.’s $1.34-billion proposed rate increase case before the Florida Public Service Commission (PSC), urging the PSC to reject the hike “as too costly for consumers,” AARP Florida State Director Jeff Johnson has announced.

A public hearing on FPL’s request will be held at 9:30 a.m. on Friday, June 3, in the City Commission Chambers at Sarasota City Hall, which is located at 1565 First St. in downtown Sarasota, the PSC has announced.

The purpose of the hearing will be for the PSC “to take testimony from the public on the quality and adequacy of FPL’s service and other matters related to [the company’s] petition for a rate increase,” a PSC meeting notice explains.

FPL will present a brief summary at the hearing, and then members of the public will be allowed to speak, the notice explains.

“All witnesses shall be subject to cross examination at the conclusion of their testimony,” the notice adds.

In an AARP news release, Johnson said, “We believe FPL is asking too much of consumers,” adding that the proposed rate increase would provide FPL with a return on equity of 11.5 percent — “for operating a business that is protected by state law from competition.”

“Florida Power & Light already receives a return of more than 9 percent,” Johnson pointed out in the release. “Ordinary Floridians can only dream of earning those kinds of returns on their investments, and they get no such protection.”

Johnson added in the news release that AARP Florida “would work throughout the summer to alert consumers to the significance of the rate increase.”

To learn more about the situation from AARP’s perspective, visit the following website:

http://states.aarp.org/aarp-florida-requests-to-formally-intervene-in-fpl-rate-increase-case-before-florida-public-service-commission/#sthash.Vk5UlASL.dpuf