Today U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Tampa/St. Petersburg, FL) and State Rep. Dwight Dudley (D-St. Petersburg) announced new legislative proposals to increase consumer protections and energy savings for Floridians.

“Florida is behind when it comes to energy policy and the deck is stacked against consumers,” Rep. Castor said, referring to incentives that encourage electric utilities to build large and expensive plants, while discouraging energy efficiency as well as renewable energy that would create jobs. 

“In 2006, the state legislature adopted the Advanced Recovery Fee, but the law included no safeguards for consumers and allowed utility companies to charge consumers for projects that may or may not come to fruition. I am announcing today that I will be filing federal legislation that would require more transparency –- through a consumer impact analysis -– from states that adopt these kinds of advanced recovery fees. This would boost consumer protection in Florida and send a message to other states that are thinking about adopting advanced recovery fees. The consumer should not be on the hook for bad business decisions by our electric utilities,” Rep. Castor said.

Rep. Castor also explained her bill for building benchmarking. “The federal government is the largest consumer of energy in the country, and it should lead by example. I just introduced a bill to require benchmarking of federally-leased buildings. If we do this on a large scale it will save taxpayers money and set an example for our businesses and neighbors." Building benchmarking is the process that allows building owners to assess the energy use of their buildings and compare them to otherwise similar buildings. 

“I think the advanced recovery fee is more fairly named the utility tax,” Rep. Dudley said when he announced his pending bill to repeal the advanced recovery fee. “Here in our rate-paying region, there is talk about expanding it [advanced recovery fee] to other applications. So I think consumers have a lot to be concerned about with the existence of the ‘utility tax.’”

Rep. Dudley also announced proposed state legislation to deregulate renewable alternative energy. “It’s a simple concept:  Let’s unleash the power of the business industry and have free enterprise in Florida.” Presently in Florida, only utilities are allowed to sell renewable energy directly to consumers and businesses and individuals are not. 

Rep. Castor has called for more energy efficiency and solar power initiatives in Florida and last year kicked off roundtable meetings with energy experts, business owners and advocates, such as Rep. Dudley.

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