Tampa Electric has withdrawn a request to avoid a state requirement that affordable energy advocates say ensures rate increases are distributed equitably.
The Florida Public Service Commission, which oversees private utilities, is expected to hold a hearing this year to set Tampa Electric's new base electricity rates for the next 2-4 years.
Ahead of that hearing, TECO submitted a petition asking the commission if it could avoid a specific cost of service survey, which is part of the minimum filing requirements. The utility requested to, instead, use a different method of determining customer costs.
Bradley Marshall, an attorney with Earthjustice, said the documentation TECO was trying to avoid helps split up costs fairly among residential, commercial and industrial customers.
"We were very happy to see TECO withdraw that petition. It means that we can have those cost-of-service fights in the rate case itself and not predetermine that all of those extra costs associated with the increased rates will be disproportionately impacting residential customers," Marshall said.
Brooke Ward with Food and Water Watch is part of the Hillsborough Rate Hikes Coalition, which is made up of 13 partners, including Earthjustice, Florida Rising, and Sierra Club.
She said her group still has concerns about the rate approval process TECO is undergoing this year even though it withdrew its request.
"A process that unfairly raises rates on residential customers simply because residential customers do not have the same sort of representation that industrial or other corporate customers may have," Ward said.
After Ward and other advocates asked for it, the Hillsborough County Commission sent a letter to the Public Service Commission last year asking for local rate meetings so community voices could be included. The PSC typically meets in Tallahassee on weekday mornings.
According to Ward, the Hillsborough Rate Hikes Coalition drove hundreds of comments to the PSC requesting it do a full and balanced cost survey, including individual letters from Hillsborough Commissioners Pat Kemp and Harry Cohen.
A spokesperson for TECO said in an email the decision to pull the petition was “not due to community reaction.”
“Based on feedback from PSC staff and the consumer parties, we have decided to submit data from both methods of study,” the spokesperson said.
That means TECO plans to submit the required cost of service study along with the version it was originally asking to be the sole documentation.
Marshall said the fact that TECO filed this petition in the first place signifies it’s likely going to request rate increases this year. And he said he expects TECO will be pushing for the cost-of-service study it originally requested, which “will disproportionately impact residential customers.”
“So, the battle is definitely not over. It's just deferred to the rate case itself, which is where we think that that battle belongs,” Marshall said.
