Energy panel rejects plan by environmentalists
TALLAHASSEE (AP) – The Florida Energy and Climate Commission sided with the state’s major power companies and against a pair of environmental groups Thursday in a dispute over setting conservation and efficiency goals for the utilities.
The panel, created by Gov. Charlie Crist and state lawmakers last year, voted 6-2 to recommend that the Public Service Commission adopt a goal-setting procedure based largely on a long-used method favored by the utilities.
It reduces efficiency requirements to avoid rate increases that may be needed to pay for fixed costs such as power plants if power sales decline because of conservation.
Jeremy Susac, the commission’s executive director, said that’s the only way to meet a requirement in state law for the panel to consider cost in its recommendation.
“We’re all for energy efficiency, but … you have to look for the least-cost alternative,” said Susac, who drafted the commission’s recommendation.
The final vote came after the panel rejected an alternate method, which counts conservation savings as a benefit rather than a cost to consumers. It was proposed by the Natural Resources Defense Council and Southern Alliance for Clean Energy and has been endorsed by a consultant for the Public Service Commission.
The environmentalists say their method would result in at least five times as much in energy savings. They acknowledge rates would go up slightly but argue consumers’ bills would be lower overall because they’d be using less power.