Editor note:  Local utility activist, Glenn Heran, forever argues it is better to be a customers of an investor-owned utility supposedly regulated by the Florida Public Service Commission, than it is to buy power form a municipal utility.  At least in the view of the Tampa Bay Times editorial board, Heran is wrong in believing, or in claiming to believe, the PSC is actually looking out for consumers.  The Times published an editorial today strongly critical of the PSC, which it contends is “controlled by the electric utilities it is supposed to regulate.”

Gov. Rick Scott signaled Thursday that he is perfectly satisfied with a Florida Public Service Commission controlled by the electric utilities it is supposed to regulate. As expected, the governor reappointed one PSC member and filled an open seat with a state legislator who spent his political career weakening environmental laws and catering to polluters. Nothing is going to change the imbalance of power in Tallahassee until there is someone in the Governor’s Mansion who is more sympathetic to families and small businesses paying the electric bills. MORE…