If my Father were still alive, he would be saying, “Who in the world do they think they are?”He would be speaking, of course, about Florida Power and Light Company (FPL) executives’ demand for a $1.27 billion annual base electricity rate hike!
The Public Service Commission (PSC) controlling the rates used to be elected state-wide. However, when the first Republican Paula Hawkins was elected, and forced reductions in rates from the power companies became so popular that she went on to be elected as a U.S. Senator, the Democrats, who controlled the legislature and governor at the time, changed the law in Florida to make the PSC appointed rather than elected. Consequently, this allowed the FP & L executives, who had been overcharging us for electricity for decades to again start overpaying themselves hundreds of millions of dollars while doling out contributions to politicians of both parties, which they still do. In fact, they hold us monopolized customers in such disdain now that they still boldly refuse to reveal the detailed salary information of their top 460 employees, i.e. those earning more than $165,000. And this “secret” cost they, of course, pass on to us. The fact that the Public Service Commission has to go to court on Jan. 27 in Tallahassee’s First District Court of Appeal to try to even get that information is outrageous!
Meanwhile on Jan. 13, the PSC is scheduled to meet and vote on FP & L’s bloated request, which includes a 12.5 percent profit — way above most power companies in the USA’s profits. Also, FP & L management has been accused by their main sister company, and some now-retired employees, of a lot of improprieties including misappropriation of millions of dollars of expenses charged to the public. This all needs to be investigated before giving them even one penny of additional money from us “captive” customers!
