Editor’s note: Florida Power & Light makes exceedingly generous political contributions. The practice has proven to be good business for the investor-owned utility giant. These benefits, though, are not without limits. Political contributions can buy a governor, and the Public Service Commissioners he/she appoints, but apparently not judges. Today, the Florida Supreme handed FPL a stinging rebuke for seeking to require its customers to guarantee the company’s capital investments and hedging practices.
MIAMI HERALD
In a rebuke to Florida Power & Light, the Florida Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that state regulators exceeded their authority when they allowed the company to charge customers for its speculative investment into an Oklahoma-based fracking company.
In June of last year, the Public Service Commission rejected its staff recommendation and unanimously approved guidelines that gave FPL the right to charge its customers up to $750 million a year for speculative natural gas fracking activities without oversight from regulators for the next five years.
In a 6-1 opinion, written by Justice Ricky Polston, the court concluded that the PSC did not have statutory authority to authorize the charge and called its decision “overreach.”
Indian River Guardian 