After Tampa Electric Co. began raising rates in January, two consumer groups Monday filed notice that they will ask the Florida Supreme Court to review regulators’ approval of the rate plan.
Meanwhile, the Office of Public Counsel, a state agency that represents consumers, also is asking the Florida Public Service Commission to reconsider an order issued last month that gave final approval to the plan.
In a December vote followed by a Feb. 3 final order, the regulatory commission approved a nearly $185 million base-rate increase for Tampa Electric in 2025, followed by expected increases of $86.6 million in 2026 and $9.1 million in 2027. The first increases took effect in January.
The groups Florida Rising Inc., and LULAC Florida Inc., which is also known as the League of United Latin American Citizens of Florida, filed a notice Monday that they were appealing the final order to the Supreme Court.
As is common, the notice did not detail arguments the groups will make at the Supreme Court.
But separately, the Office of Public Counsel on Feb. 18 took the somewhat-unusual step of asking the commission to reconsider the approval, saying it is “necessary to provide the commission a fair opportunity to address facts and law that the commission overlooked or failed to consider which first appeared in the final order.”
As of early Monday afternoon, the commission hadn’t made a decision about reconsideration. But Tampa Electric last week argued that the motion for reconsideration should be rejected.
“It does not identify any point of fact or law that the commission failed to consider,” the utility’s attorneys wrote in a response. “Instead, the motion reframes arguments that the commission considered and rejected and erroneously summarizes the evidentiary record and final order.”
Base rates make up a major part of customers’ monthly electric bills, and rate cases play out over months and involve voluminous amounts of information. Other parts of customers’ bills include such expenses as power plant fuel and costs of complying with environmental regulations.
Tampa Electric requested that the commission approve a $287.9 million increase in 2025, followed by increases of about $92.4 million in 2026 and $65.5 million in 2027. Those amounts were reduced in the commission’s ultimate decisions.
The rate increases were controversial, with disputed issues including the utility’s allowed return on equity, a closely watched measure of profitability. The commission approves return-on-equity ranges and what is known as a “midpoint.”
Tampa Electric sought an 11.5 percent midpoint, with the commission ultimately approving a 10.5 percent midpoint.
In the motion for reconsideration, the Office of Public Counsel argued that commission staff members had recommended a 10.3 percent midpoint and that the commission did not have a basis for approving 10.5 percent — a change that involves millions of dollars.
“Increasing the ROE (return on equity) is not only improper but also unnecessarily compounds the financial burden on TECO’s customers, making the new rates unfair, unjust and unreasonable,” the motion for reconsideration said.
But in its response last week, Tampa Electric disputed the argument about the basis for the commission’s decision and said the commission did not have to follow the staff recommendation.
Citing precedents, Tampa Electric attorneys said the Office of Public Counsel’s argument “presupposes that staff’s recommended ROE is the only ‘correct answer, and that the commission must justify any deviation from it. It is well settled that the commission is ‘free to accept staff's recommendations, to accept part of staff's recommendations, or to reject staff's recommendations entirely.’ ”
