Supreme Court of Florida returns Florida Power and Light case settlement to commissioners

The Supreme Court of Florida released a series of court opinions Thursday morning — most notably its opinion in the case of Floridians Against Increased Rates, Inc. v. Gary F. Clark, etc., et al.

Floridians Against Increased Rates, Florida Rising and others, previously challenged a decision made by the Public Service Commission — which regulates public utilities — to approve a settlement agreement between Florida Power and Light and other interested parties providing for a rate increase, among other things. 

Floridians Against Increased Rates and Florida Rising had argued the Public Service Commission’s decision did not comply with Florida law resulting in “unfair and discriminatory customer rates.” 

Florida Power and Light and the Public Service Commission argued the decision was “appropriate and proper.”

The Supreme Court noted in its opinion that the Commission has not supplied a basis for meaningful judicial review of its conclusion that the settlement agreement at issue “provides a reasonable resolution of all issues raised, establishes rates that are fair, just, and reasonable, and is in the public interest.” 

“The Commission’s reasoning about whether all this is in the public interest covers less than two pages of the over 70,000 in the record we have for review,” the opinion states. 

It remanded the case to the Commission for an explanation of its decision consistent with governing law — highlighting that the Commission provided no indication that it considered the statutory factors set out. 

“[I]t is not enough to point to the pile of paper memorializing these proceedings and say, “It’s in there,” the opinion reads. 

“The Commission must therefore give us something to work with: a decision that is reasoned and articulated enough to allow us to assess on what basis it has concluded that the settlement agreement is in the public interest and results in rates that are fair, just, and reasonable,” the court wrote. 

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