Customers, Stakeholders Urge Florida to Clear Roadblocks and Modernize its Energy Saving Practices

Badly outdated practices–unique to Florida–are almost 30 years old

Tallahassee, Fla. – Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE), along with numerous other stakeholders, filed comments in support of modernizing the state’s badly outdated energy efficiency rules in a recent Florida Public Service Commission rulemaking docket. The current rules, in place since the early 1990s, have landed Florida near dead-last in state rankings for efficiency performance, while undercutting opportunities for customers to cut energy waste and save money on their power bills.

A central issue for rule reform is a set of faulty economic screening practices used in Florida that are so old no other state uses them when setting efficiency savings goals. In 2019, these flawed screening practices were used by utilities to propose eliminating their energy-saving goals completely. The Commission rejected those proposals and called for reform to its energy efficiency rules and practices. Thousands of customers have already filed comments in the docket calling on the state to modernize its rules in order to realize the many economic and environmental benefits of using energy smarter.

Additionally, SACE and stakeholders have called on the Commission to hold a second workshop to explore rule changes to modernize the decades-old practices used in Florida. But the initial draft rule, filed by the Commission’s staff last December, conspicuously left the economic screening practices unaddressed.

SACE’s Energy Efficiency Director, Forest Bradley-Wright, provided the following statement after SACE filed comments:

“The Florida Public Service Commission has a unique opportunity to finally reform the outdated energy efficiency rules that have routinely undermined proven low-cost energy-saving investments. There are solid economic reasons why no other state uses these outdated practices, which have consistently landed Florida in the bottom tier of national efficiency performance rankings. Reducing energy waste is the quickest, cheapest, and cleanest way to meet our future energy needs. Implementing modern energy efficiency practices will bring enormous economic benefits to the state and its hard-working families who have been paying unnecessarily high energy bills for too long.”

Members of the public can still submit comments to the Commission urging them to modernize the state’s rules in order to realize the many economic and environmental benefits of using energy smarter through this website: EnergySmartFL.com.

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Since 1985, the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy has worked to promote responsible and equitable energy choices to ensure clean, safe, and healthy communities throughout the Southeast. Learn more at www.cleanenergy.org.