How the Florida Public Service Commission affects what you pay for electricity
Florida is one of only four states where the law expressly prohibits you from buying energy from anyone other than your government-assigned monopoly utility.
Florida is one of only four states where the law expressly prohibits you from buying energy from anyone other than your government-assigned monopoly utility.
"Solar is cheaper, and you're taking out the fuel cost,” Glickman said. “We could be doing so much better if there was a push to take advantage of the sunshine."
“Duke Energy gets 90% of its electricity from burning gas or coal,” Maguire said. “They are an extremely dirty and polluting utility, and they essentially get to do that polluting for free because it’s the young people today that are going to deal with a warmer environment and stronger storms and more flooding in the decades to come.”
“I see it as a freedom issue,” said Raymer Maguire, Director of Campaigns and Policy at The CLEO Institute, a Miami-based organization focused on climate education and advocacy. “Every year, Florida is getting a little less free.” SB 180 is Florida’s most expansive preemption law, but it is far from the only one. In the past decade, state lawmakers have passed a spate of prohibitions limiting local control over issues such as firearms, LGBTQ issues and, increasingly, environment and climate regulation.
By rapidly doubling or tripling its solar capacity, OUC could make burning coal unnecessary. Unlike fossil fuels, solar power has no fuel cost, helping protect OUC customers from the price swings that come with natural gas and coal.
“ While Resilient Florida is necessary, it's not sufficient,” said Yoca Arditi-Rocha, CEO of The CLEO Institute, a nonpartisan, climate-focused nonprofit. Local governments are bringing forward projects to protect critical assets like main roads, hospitals and water treatment facilities. “The state is not keeping pace with the demand,” Arditi-Rocha said.
Yoca Arditi-Rocha, CEO of The CLEO Institute, described the program as important but not enough, saying, "The state is not keeping pace with the demand."
Through United We Prepare, more than 1,200 emergency preparedness kits will be distributed to residents in some of Miami-Dade County’s most hurricane-vulnerable communities. The initiative also features 10 heat and hurricane preparedness workshops hosted by The CLEO Institute and community distribution events focused on reaching neighborhoods most at-risk during hurricane season.
"We all know Miami is in an affordability crisis. If you live here, you've seen it, you know what I mean," said Jocelyn Mahone, Communications Manager for The CLEO Institute. "Unfortunately, we have people who think that cutting trees to build more is the answer."