Florida Power & Light won permission last week to raise electricity rates by $7 billion over the next four years. Here's why it's so big, how FPL pulled it off, and who should be held accountable.
Florida is, indeed, open for bidness. Wide open. So wide open that the logical next step is to recreate debtors' prisons and convict lease since a fair share of long-term residents are unable to survive in the present economic environment in which elected officials get their marching orders from soulless oligarchs bent on maximizing their wealth. (Cue up: Jerry Garcia's "Old and In the Way.")
Maybe that's the point; run us long timers out of the state, for whatever reason. And the only business the state seems to be open to is the "Right" kind.
Two responses come to mind re: Democratic Party failures:
First, the influx of monied folks during Covid and subsequently. Many were GOP in their home states (some of which had individual income taxes) and continue to vote that way even though MAGA Florida is cruder and crueler than governance to which they are accustomed. Or, maybe that is part of the attraction?
Second: "In the past decade Republican have increased their voter registration total by 1.3 million voters, while Democrats’ numbers have declined by 402,394, mostly due to new voter roll maintenance rules." (James Call, Tallahassee Democrat, story in Jax TU 11/3/25)
well, the Dems have also had systemic failures brought on by the previous to Nikki Fried chair who was a billionaire. Yes, there are good Dems but they have also been pushed out by candidates with big money supporters. AND, they probably see it as a jumping off point to the Fed level because that's where the real stock market options happen.
So do what then? Roll over? Move? Go to Tally now?
Off the cuff: Ds need young, fresh blood. No disrespect to Bernie, of course, or Nancy or Eliz,, et al. AOC and Zohran are fresh faces and they have good ideas. (Fried reported herself in 2021 as a one-digit mini-millionaire. And, to her credit, some of her money was invested in the pot business.)
Whoever said "Money is the root of all evil" knew whereof they spoke. I have no plan to deal with this although one obvious answer is the return to post-WWII progressive taxation.
Perhaps you're right. But here in Florida - 1958 for me - the Rs have outmaneuvered the Ds. And I'm not one of those kind of "R"s. Starting with Jeb's trying to centralize into Tallahassee that poor woman in a comatose state, then to Scott's (not even a Floridian, either) "business" takeover of Growth Management and now this one with his "conservative" ideology. WTH is that, anyway? The Dems meanwhile kept trending toward the Zohran agenda early on. So we have "Free state" Reps moving into the state, moving the state even further "right," WTH is that? And the Dems retreating into their ideology. Rock Scissors Paper. Now we have an ideological state overtaxing us and the Dems dropped the ball by removing Checks and Balances because purple hair and climate change was more important to them than defeating ideology "conservatives" WTH is that.
In retrospect, we Ds might have been better off with a sensible Gwen Graham as our gubernatorial candidate rather than Andrew Gillum who was entrapped by law enforcement and mercilessly harassed subsequently -- only to walk after a jury trial. Florida is a dirty pool and overrun with two-legged saurians.
We lost our jobs to China etc by both parties and the billionaires bought candidates and monopolized the parties to their favor. It really has nothing to do with "age" or "ideas" and quite frankly no one would be critizing the Dems if it wasn't for "old Bernie".
I haven't found the Duval Democrats all that inclusive, that is, cliques rule. The scandal that emerged here with the (former) long-serving head of the party and her factotum should be a warning to open things up. This is easier said than done, and in my experience grassroots organizations have been a more attractive alternative.
Congress is a gerontocracy, in part due to the seniority system. However, time will create openings for younger blood and, with the help of people like you who have an institutional memory, younger people will do better, perhaps.
I do know Charlie Crist was there to push out Nikki Fried - it was obvious when he did little campaigning and couldn't even show up for a simple hurricane relief effort. He dumped the governor's office during the BP oil spill. I don't care about his age. I care that he didn't care.
Sure, there is a time to retire but the young should know there is nothing new under the sun other than it is first known to them. They aren't really doing anything new LOL. They aren't inventing anything...
Well, I'm a Graham Cracker - lifelong South Florida Republican (1976) and I voted for Bob Graham without hesitation as did my circle of friends. We were all about nonpartisan Growth Management at that time. Hopefully, you won't get caught up in the second guessing trap, the "Conservative" ideological Republicans just played a better game than us Graham Crackers and Dems.
True, but what happened between DeSantis' first, very narrow electoral victory margin and his walkaway second election? Answer: Voter suppression in countless ways. This isn't the place for a free and fair election anymore. And the 2000 presidential election set the tone. Florida is dirty.
425.17 Conversion of existing corporations.—Any corporation organized under the laws of this state for the purpose, among others, of supplying electric energy in rural areas may be converted into a cooperative and become subject to this chapter with the same effect as if originally organized under this chapter by complying with the following requirements:
(1) The proposition for the conversion of such corporation into a cooperative and proposed articles of conversion to give effect thereto shall be first approved by the board of trustees or the board of directors as the case may be, of such corporation. The proposed articles of conversion shall recite in the caption that they are executed pursuant to this chapter and shall state:
(a) The name of the corporation prior to its conversion into a cooperative;
(b) The address of the principal office of such corporation;
(c) The date of the filing the articles of incorporation of such corporation with the Department of State;
(d) The statute under which such corporation was organized;
(e) The name assumed by such corporation;
(f) A statement that such corporation elects to become a cooperative, nonprofit, membership corporation subject to this chapter;
(g) The names and addresses of the persons who shall constitute the board of trustees of such corporation after the completion of the conversion thereof until the next following annual meeting of its members;
(h) The manner and basis of converting either memberships in or shares of stock of such corporation into memberships therein after completion of the conversion; and
(i) Any provisions not inconsistent with this chapter deemed necessary or advisable for the conduct of the business and affairs of such corporation;
(2) The proposition for the conversion of such corporation into a cooperative and the proposed articles of conversion approved by the board of trustees or board of directors, as the case may be, of such corporation shall then be submitted to a vote of the members or stockholders, as the case may be, of such corporation at any duly held annual or special meeting thereof, the notice of which shall set forth full particulars concerning the proposed conversion. The proposition for the conversion of such corporation into a cooperative and the proposed articles of conversion, with such amendments thereto as the members or stockholders of such corporation shall choose to make, shall be deemed to be approved upon the affirmative vote of not less than two-thirds of those members of such corporation voting thereon at such meeting, or, if such corporation is a stock corporation, upon the affirmative vote of the holders of not less than two-thirds of the capital stock of such corporation represented at such meeting;
(3) Upon such approval by the members or stockholders of such corporation, articles of conversion in the form approved by such members or stockholders shall be executed and acknowledged on behalf of such corporation by its president or vice president and its corporate seal shall be affixed thereto and attested by its secretary. The president or vice president executing such articles of conversion on behalf of such corporation shall also make and annex thereto an affidavit stating that the provisions of this section with respect to the approval of its trustees or directors and its members or stockholders, of the proposition for the conversion of such corporation into a cooperative and such articles of conversion were duly complied with. Such articles of conversion and affidavit shall be submitted to the Department of State for filing as provided in this chapter. The term “articles of incorporation” as used in this chapter shall be deemed to include the articles of conversion of a converted corporation.
I'm sure everyone know this but someone should call out the "elephant in the room' here. FPL is paying every single person involved in the decision making because they are reaping enormous profits and generating BILLIONS in revenue every couple months (yes - every couple of months they make Billions with a B). With that kind of money you can literally buy ANY politician - I mean anyone at any level. We are all screwed until some one in the Florida Gov't decides to help the consumer again , And thst clearly isn't DickSantis.
Used to have a sunshine law and people would know what was going on. Now it is Republicans and Desantis destroying a state once affordable, friendly, and knew tourism was important… to many millionaires and billionaires involved in the state government now. Pay to play…. Sad
Florida is, indeed, open for bidness. Wide open. So wide open that the logical next step is to recreate debtors' prisons and convict lease since a fair share of long-term residents are unable to survive in the present economic environment in which elected officials get their marching orders from soulless oligarchs bent on maximizing their wealth. (Cue up: Jerry Garcia's "Old and In the Way.")
Maybe that's the point; run us long timers out of the state, for whatever reason. And the only business the state seems to be open to is the "Right" kind.
Disgusting ~ I'll keep asking - where are the Dems in all of this chaos. At least give us a show of strength or antics or something.
Right now, the bills are being filed and the stage and budget is almost set for the Jan 2026. After that it's just a pony show of votes.
Two responses come to mind re: Democratic Party failures:
First, the influx of monied folks during Covid and subsequently. Many were GOP in their home states (some of which had individual income taxes) and continue to vote that way even though MAGA Florida is cruder and crueler than governance to which they are accustomed. Or, maybe that is part of the attraction?
Second: "In the past decade Republican have increased their voter registration total by 1.3 million voters, while Democrats’ numbers have declined by 402,394, mostly due to new voter roll maintenance rules." (James Call, Tallahassee Democrat, story in Jax TU 11/3/25)
well, the Dems have also had systemic failures brought on by the previous to Nikki Fried chair who was a billionaire. Yes, there are good Dems but they have also been pushed out by candidates with big money supporters. AND, they probably see it as a jumping off point to the Fed level because that's where the real stock market options happen.
So do what then? Roll over? Move? Go to Tally now?
Off the cuff: Ds need young, fresh blood. No disrespect to Bernie, of course, or Nancy or Eliz,, et al. AOC and Zohran are fresh faces and they have good ideas. (Fried reported herself in 2021 as a one-digit mini-millionaire. And, to her credit, some of her money was invested in the pot business.)
Whoever said "Money is the root of all evil" knew whereof they spoke. I have no plan to deal with this although one obvious answer is the return to post-WWII progressive taxation.
Perhaps you're right. But here in Florida - 1958 for me - the Rs have outmaneuvered the Ds. And I'm not one of those kind of "R"s. Starting with Jeb's trying to centralize into Tallahassee that poor woman in a comatose state, then to Scott's (not even a Floridian, either) "business" takeover of Growth Management and now this one with his "conservative" ideology. WTH is that, anyway? The Dems meanwhile kept trending toward the Zohran agenda early on. So we have "Free state" Reps moving into the state, moving the state even further "right," WTH is that? And the Dems retreating into their ideology. Rock Scissors Paper. Now we have an ideological state overtaxing us and the Dems dropped the ball by removing Checks and Balances because purple hair and climate change was more important to them than defeating ideology "conservatives" WTH is that.
In retrospect, we Ds might have been better off with a sensible Gwen Graham as our gubernatorial candidate rather than Andrew Gillum who was entrapped by law enforcement and mercilessly harassed subsequently -- only to walk after a jury trial. Florida is a dirty pool and overrun with two-legged saurians.
No, we would have been better off with Nikki Fried.
We lost our jobs to China etc by both parties and the billionaires bought candidates and monopolized the parties to their favor. It really has nothing to do with "age" or "ideas" and quite frankly no one would be critizing the Dems if it wasn't for "old Bernie".
Older or middle people have no place in society anymore? BS. What happened to diversity?
The Dems problem is they got bought out by big money. It has nothing to do with age.
The young have big ideas ???? Okay - let's see if they have the smarts to make those a reality.
I haven't found the Duval Democrats all that inclusive, that is, cliques rule. The scandal that emerged here with the (former) long-serving head of the party and her factotum should be a warning to open things up. This is easier said than done, and in my experience grassroots organizations have been a more attractive alternative.
Congress is a gerontocracy, in part due to the seniority system. However, time will create openings for younger blood and, with the help of people like you who have an institutional memory, younger people will do better, perhaps.
I don't know anything about the Duval Dems.
I do know Charlie Crist was there to push out Nikki Fried - it was obvious when he did little campaigning and couldn't even show up for a simple hurricane relief effort. He dumped the governor's office during the BP oil spill. I don't care about his age. I care that he didn't care.
Sure, there is a time to retire but the young should know there is nothing new under the sun other than it is first known to them. They aren't really doing anything new LOL. They aren't inventing anything...
Well, I'm a Graham Cracker - lifelong South Florida Republican (1976) and I voted for Bob Graham without hesitation as did my circle of friends. We were all about nonpartisan Growth Management at that time. Hopefully, you won't get caught up in the second guessing trap, the "Conservative" ideological Republicans just played a better game than us Graham Crackers and Dems.
True, but what happened between DeSantis' first, very narrow electoral victory margin and his walkaway second election? Answer: Voter suppression in countless ways. This isn't the place for a free and fair election anymore. And the 2000 presidential election set the tone. Florida is dirty.
Desantis made a new rule to have to recall for mail in voting, he redistricted… and purge voters close to election..
Republicans are in charge
Worse than anyone on here realizes. The game is already set up by the committees this week. The budget is almost done. Now is just rounds of votes.
The real game is played by lobbyist who are writing the bills and the Chairs who either allow a bill or not.
The other comments about age and ideas are not relevant . .................
I'm confused why the commercial customers (Walmart et al) would support such a huge rate hike??
There are discounts for very large users. From a Tampa Bay Times story about the settlement agreement:
"Under the deal, revenue from all customers would subsidize increasing discounts on large companies’ energy usage during peak times."
https://www.tampabay.com/news/business/2025/11/10/fpl-florida-power-light-rate-bill-increase-hike-electric/
thank you!
my question exactly... they will have to pay more also. What is in it for them??
The 2025 Florida Statutes
Chapter 425
RURAL ELECTRIC COOPERATIVES
View Entire Chapter
425.17 Conversion of existing corporations.—Any corporation organized under the laws of this state for the purpose, among others, of supplying electric energy in rural areas may be converted into a cooperative and become subject to this chapter with the same effect as if originally organized under this chapter by complying with the following requirements:
(1) The proposition for the conversion of such corporation into a cooperative and proposed articles of conversion to give effect thereto shall be first approved by the board of trustees or the board of directors as the case may be, of such corporation. The proposed articles of conversion shall recite in the caption that they are executed pursuant to this chapter and shall state:
(a) The name of the corporation prior to its conversion into a cooperative;
(b) The address of the principal office of such corporation;
(c) The date of the filing the articles of incorporation of such corporation with the Department of State;
(d) The statute under which such corporation was organized;
(e) The name assumed by such corporation;
(f) A statement that such corporation elects to become a cooperative, nonprofit, membership corporation subject to this chapter;
(g) The names and addresses of the persons who shall constitute the board of trustees of such corporation after the completion of the conversion thereof until the next following annual meeting of its members;
(h) The manner and basis of converting either memberships in or shares of stock of such corporation into memberships therein after completion of the conversion; and
(i) Any provisions not inconsistent with this chapter deemed necessary or advisable for the conduct of the business and affairs of such corporation;
(2) The proposition for the conversion of such corporation into a cooperative and the proposed articles of conversion approved by the board of trustees or board of directors, as the case may be, of such corporation shall then be submitted to a vote of the members or stockholders, as the case may be, of such corporation at any duly held annual or special meeting thereof, the notice of which shall set forth full particulars concerning the proposed conversion. The proposition for the conversion of such corporation into a cooperative and the proposed articles of conversion, with such amendments thereto as the members or stockholders of such corporation shall choose to make, shall be deemed to be approved upon the affirmative vote of not less than two-thirds of those members of such corporation voting thereon at such meeting, or, if such corporation is a stock corporation, upon the affirmative vote of the holders of not less than two-thirds of the capital stock of such corporation represented at such meeting;
(3) Upon such approval by the members or stockholders of such corporation, articles of conversion in the form approved by such members or stockholders shall be executed and acknowledged on behalf of such corporation by its president or vice president and its corporate seal shall be affixed thereto and attested by its secretary. The president or vice president executing such articles of conversion on behalf of such corporation shall also make and annex thereto an affidavit stating that the provisions of this section with respect to the approval of its trustees or directors and its members or stockholders, of the proposition for the conversion of such corporation into a cooperative and such articles of conversion were duly complied with. Such articles of conversion and affidavit shall be submitted to the Department of State for filing as provided in this chapter. The term “articles of incorporation” as used in this chapter shall be deemed to include the articles of conversion of a converted corporation.
History.—s. 16, ch. 19138, 1939; CGL 1940 Supp. 6494(59); ss. 10, 35 ch. 69-106.
Are you following the Gainesville municipal utility fracas? The state MAGAS seem bent on transferring it to the private sector -- FP&L is the malefactor, if memory serves. Here's an update, which details 75% of voters have twice they want to keep their utility public. https://www.alligator.org/article/2025/11/gainesville-votes-to-return-control-of-local-utilities-to-city-commission-again
I'm sure everyone know this but someone should call out the "elephant in the room' here. FPL is paying every single person involved in the decision making because they are reaping enormous profits and generating BILLIONS in revenue every couple months (yes - every couple of months they make Billions with a B). With that kind of money you can literally buy ANY politician - I mean anyone at any level. We are all screwed until some one in the Florida Gov't decides to help the consumer again , And thst clearly isn't DickSantis.
The new building in town is giving off ENCOM & (MCP) master control program vibes
Used to have a sunshine law and people would know what was going on. Now it is Republicans and Desantis destroying a state once affordable, friendly, and knew tourism was important… to many millionaires and billionaires involved in the state government now. Pay to play…. Sad
With apologies to Bill Withers: Ain't no sunshine when Dee's around; only darkness every day.
https://jaxtrib.org/2025/11/28/resurrected-lawsuit-puts-fpls-past-controversies-back-in-the-spotlight/
Nate Monroe reports in current The Tributary story that FPL is back on the hot seat in court, thanks to these fine souls: "The lead plaintiffs in the case are the City of Hollywood Police Officers Retirement System and the Pembroke Pines Firefighters & Police Officers Pension Fund." https://jaxtrib.org/2025/11/28/resurrected-lawsuit-puts-fpls-past-controversies-back-in-the-spotlight/
Made my day to read this!
Awful!
NEVER SURRENDER