Title
A Resolution of the City Commission encouraging the Florida Public Service Commission to reform decades-old economic screening practices in setting energy savings goals for Florida electric utilities to comport with national best practices in order to promote the smarter use of energy, through efficiency programs, to Florida’s commercial and residential customers.
(Sponsored by Mayor Lago)
Body
The Florida Legislature passed the Florida Energy Efficiency and Conservation Act (“FEECA”) in 1980 to reduce peak electricity demand and energy consumption in the state. The Florida Public Service Commission (“PSC”) is statutorily required to establish conservation goals for FEECA utilities and review such goals every five years, at a minimum; in turn, the utilities are required to develop cost-effective demand-side management plans that meet those goals and submit them to the PSC for approval.
In the most recent conservation goal setting proceeding in 2019, several large utilities filed proposed energy savings goals of zero or near zero. The utilities’ proposed goals were established by relying on economic screens such as the Rate Impact Measure (“RIM”) test and the 2-year payback screen that no other state in the nation relies upon for setting goals.
This resolution is appropriate because the PSC has established a rulemaking docket to consider changes in the process by which conservation goals are set and customer programs are approved in the future. This rulemaking process affords the PSC the unique opportunity to modernize its FEECA rules to end its reliance on outdated economic screens and to increase the focus of conservation goals and programs to address energy savings opportunities at the utility system level and reduce the energy burdens of low to moderate income customers.
Energy efficiency measures constitute a low-cost resource that helps residential and commercial building owners use less energy, save money on bills, and reduce greenhouse gas e...
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