Charlie Crist: FPL controls DeSantis and gouges Northwest Florida residents | Guestview
Electricity is an absolute necessity, not a luxury.
Yet for too many Floridians in Northwest Florida, the outrageous monthly power bills from Florida Power & Light are simply unaffordable. The state’s largest utility gets away with gouging consumers who have no where else to turn for electricity because the utility regulators in Tallahassee are lap dogs rather than watch dogs — and because the utility controls Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Legislature with its army of lobbyists and millions in campaign contributions.
Throughout Northwest Florida, residents are raising their voices and demanding change. In Pensacola, there has been discussion about creating a municipal electric utility to try to lower rates. In Santa Rosa County, residents are showing up at county commission meetings to express their anger and plead for help. I also have followed along as a Facebook group concerned about high power bills already has nearly 10,000 members and plenty of posts from homeowners who are hurting and can’t afford the rate increases.
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I am proud of the thousands of Floridians who are protesting these incomprehensible rate increases, and I feel for those struggling to keep the lights on. We have to keep up the pressure and focus our efforts on Tallahassee. That is where the key decisions affecting your electric bills are made, and that is where we must break the iron grip of the electric utilities.
Your electric bills are soaring because the Florida Public Service Commission — five utility regulators appointed by the governor — approved an indefensible rate increase for FPL last fall. The PSC even agreed to force residential customers to subsidize the rates of the state’s largest commercial and industrial users by $1 billion. That’s ridiculous.
On top of the rate increase, add in more money for higher fuel costs that FPL and other electric utilities pass on to customers. The result: The typical monthly power bill for FPL residential customers in Northwest Florida has risen by more than 20%. That is way too much for middle class families to easily handle.
In fact, our state has become unaffordable for too many Floridians. Exorbitant electric bills. High home prices and soaring rents. Rising premiums for property insurance and car insurance. Yet Gov. DeSantis and the Legislature would rather distract with culture wars than focus on the issues Florida families are facing every day.
When I served as your governor, I fought unjustified rate increases for the big electric utilities and appointed consumer advocates to the PSC. I lowered property insurance rates. In Congress, I have fought for housing affordability. And I will do it again if I am honored to be elected as your next governor.
Instead of working on the very real issue of exorbitant power bills, Gov. DeSantis is expected to sign into law new legislation that would make it more expensive if you want to put solar panels on your roof. Florida voters rejected a similar attempt backed by FPL in 2016, but the state’s largest utility is at it again. It wants the control and the power. Not you.
As governor, I took the fight to FPL and held them accountable for gouging Floridians. If you elect me governor in November, I’ll take on the special interests in Tallahassee. I will appoint people to the Public Service Commission to represent you — not the powerful, for-profit utilities. I’ve been governor, I know it’s a governor’s job to put the people first. You are the boss — not the entrenched special interests that write big checks in Tallahassee.
Florida has become unaffordable, and Governor DeSantis is making it worse. Northwest Florida, I hear you about the pain of soaring electric bills. Come November, help is on the way.
Charlie Crist served as governor from 2007 to 2011 as a Republican. He now represents St. Petersburg and most of Pinellas County in the U.S. House as a Democrat, and he is seeking the Democratic nomination for governor.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Charlie Crist: FPL controls DeSantis, gouges Northwest Florida residents
