Two years ago, I stood with fellow students and community members as the Leon County Commission passed its visionary Climate Emergency Resolution, which reinforced the county’s commitment to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by 2030.

Leon County has made steady progress, but that momentum is now threatened by House Bill 1217, which passed the House and is headed to the Senate.

If enacted, HB 1217 would erase local clean energy goals—including those in Leon County and Tallahassee—and force local governments to follow the state’s energy policy, which was severely amended in 2024 due to a bill sponsored by former state Rep. Bobby Payne of Palatka that removed all references to “climate change” in state law.

This bill overrides local priorities in favor of monopoly utilities that profit from fossil fuels and highlights a bigger problem: utilities run our state’s Capitol. Good bills to protect the environment or lower costs are often blocked, while utility-friendly bills sail through. Sen. Don Gaetz of Crestview made this very clear when he said his bill to lower utility costs (SB 126) died at the hands of the utility industry.

Utilities don’t just lobby lawmakers, they bankroll their campaigns, meaning they have an outsized role in shaping our communities and costs for utilities and insurance. A new report from The CLEO Institute, “Utility Influence: Connecting the Dots,” details how deep utility influence in Tallahassee runs.

Payne has received over $145,000 from utilities and was appointed in October 2025 to serve on the Florida Public Service Commission (PSC) by Gov. Ron DeSantis, who’s taken more than $600,000 from utilities. The PSC sets utility rates and profits. Florida’s utilities earn some of the largest profit margins in the nation.

The report found Florida’s four investor-owned utilities—Florida Power & Light (FPL), Duke Energy Florida (Duke), Tampa Electric Co. (TECO), and Florida Public Utilities (FPU)—have spent a staggering $72 million on candidates since 2017 and have already sunk over $11 million into this year’s elections.

Top public officials—including Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson, Senate President Ben Albritton, and gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds—each received over $1 million from utilities this cycle.

As Senate President, Simpson pushed legislation to oust J.R. Kelly as head of the Office of Public Counsel (OPC), the advocate for Florida’s utility customers. Kelly saved customers millions by challenging rate hikes, but his replacement, Richard Gentry, often sided with utilities and backed their requests for higher rates before the PSC.

The report also found that FPL, Duke, and TECO spend over $2.5 million a year on lobbying. Almost 20 utility lobbyists are registered to lobby against HB 1217.

Unchecked utility influence means Florida families pay some of the highest utility bills in the country as pollution worsens and natural disasters intensify. The top four monopoly utilities profit over $26 billion a year while burning fuels that put our communities at risk.

We deserve better.

 

This opinion piece has been published in the Tallahassee Democrat and on Yahoo! News.