This is a production of WEDU PBS, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota.

Coming up, consumers are feeling the summer heat in their electric bills.

Repairs to Florida's energy grid after last year's devastating hurricane season are partly to blame.

And utility companies say more rate hikes are needed.

And when it comes to solar energy, the residential clean energy tax credit will end this year.

How the clock and the impact of tariffs may keep you from the 30% credit.

These stories are next on Florida This Week.

[uptempo music] Welcome back everybody.

I'm Lissette Campos.

Joining our panel this week, we have Dr. Yogi Goswami, University of South Florida, distinguished university professor, specializing in energy and sustainability, attorney and consumer protection expert Charles Gallagher III.

He's a managing partner at Gallagher and Associates.

Bill Johnson is the founder of Brilliant Harvest in Sarasota, and journalist Mitch Perry is here with the Florida Phoenix.

As temperatures rise in the summer, so do the power bills up and down the west coast from Clearwater to central Florida, residents are seeing higher bills attributed to last year's devastating hurricanes.

Now, Florida Power and Light is asking for what could become the largest utility hike in U.S. history, and higher rates are pushing at least one major city to push back.

Severe storms last year snapped west coast Florida's energy grid.

Many neighborhoods spent more than a week in the dark after back to back hurricanes of Helene and Milton.

All the recovery work to that electric grid came with a price tag.

Rate hikes were approved for utilities like Duke and Tampa Electric.

The hikes hitting monthly bills hardest now during peak summer months.

Some customers are paying as much as 30% more than the same time last year.

I guess there's two two months ago, our bill increased by about $180.

I was floored, I was completely floored.

I was like, there's got to be a mistake.

I wanted to have the meter checked because, like, this is this is ridiculous.

Now Florida Power and Light is proposing a nearly $10 billion rate increase over the next four years.

The current rates set by the Public Service Commission will expire at the end of this year.

To translate the proposed rates into a typical bill using Fennell's online resource.

Consider this a customer paying $134 for 1000 kilowatt hours of power would pay $142 next year.

The rates would gradually increase every year after that, and by 2029, that same customer's bill would reach about $152 per kilowatt hour.

We have proposed a plan that will allow us to keep making smart investments to reliably serve a growing state, while keeping bills well below the national average.

The AARP has come out as one of the largest opponents to the proposed rates.

The advocacy group says the rates will hurt consumers, while possibly giving Fpnl investors a financial return of nearly 12%.

And when you have a cost, go up and you force someone to choose, do I run my AC or do I go get a prescription that I need?

That's a tough choice, and it puts a financial strain on everyone.

When we're really increasing costs, when they may not be necessary, or maybe not even at the the high point that we're looking at the increases coming our way might be.

Public hearings on the proposed rate hike will start next week, with the final decision expected by fall.

Meanwhile, local leaders are exploring alternatives.

This week, the city of St. Petersburg agreed to research the possibility of replacing Duke Energy by creating its own municipal utility.

And Mitch, I want to start with you.

You were on a call this week where it was detailed, part of this fpnl request for the hike.

Tell us about that.

Yeah.

As you mentioned in the setup there, almost $10 billion, which is apparently the most ever.

Um, and uh, you know FPL they are the biggest, uh, in the state of Florida utility.

One of the biggest in the country, if not the biggest.

Actually, I think they have 6 million individual accounts, over 12 million customers.

So this is really huge.

And as you saw, you know, they say it's this to stay competitive basically.

But this is an escalation that is not unique to FPL.

Tampa Electric Duke.

They've all raised their rates in the last few years, and consumer advocates have made a big issue about it.

The question is, what do we do about it?

There is a public service commission, as you mentioned.

The hearing will begin, I believe, next week.

There'll be maybe a week of hearings of this final decision in the fall.

And the question is, it doesn't have to be this high.

The Public Service Commission can review all of this and maybe make an adjustment on it.

Does not have to go this high.

They're going to get a lot of input and hopefully they just don't rubber stamp the request.

The last time that a city in that case it was the city of Clearwater, basically thought of leaving the the electric company and starting their own utility.

The price tag was $1.1 billion.

How did.

That work?

Let's clarify that.

Actually, that was not the Clearwater's own study.

They actually were still waiting to hear from Clearwater's own study, which should come in the next few weeks.

They did pay their own consultant, I believe, like $500,000 for that.

What you're referring to is a study that Duke themselves did.

Nobody asked them to, but they went out and got a consultant who came back with, I think between 1.2, 21.2, 1.3 and 1.5.

A billion just incredible amount.

Very expensive weather.

That is in fact the case.

Well, it can be confirmed or disputed when Clearwater's own account, you know, consultant comes out with a report, but there's no question it's going to be very expensive.

And that is obviously a discouragement why other cities don't do this, because it is not unique to do this.

We know there are, I think, what at least 15 around these municipal utilities around the state.

I know, Charles, you said you come from Orlando.

You grew up with that there.

Tallahassee has it, Lakeland has it.

So it's not unique.

Um, and in fact, uh, so there's and there's a reason just as high rates, but also just unhappiness with customer service, uh, maybe trees being trimmed in a way that they don't appreciate.

Communities don't appreciate underground lines that are not done.

So there's a lot of dissatisfaction with these power companies.

And at least Clearwater is making a step at this.

Of trying to examine this in St. Petersburg may follow suit.

Charles, what legal recourse or what recourse in general do consumers have when the electric companies, the utility companies, ask for these these hikes.

Certainly, the Public Service Commission does have an avenue for consumers, citizens to make a complaint that's determined by the actual Public Service Commission.

If that's not something to their satisfaction, they can go ahead and bring that issue up in court.

They can go ahead and bring an action before the Florida Supreme Court to challenge that rate increase.

The question is what's what's the barometer there?

Is this a matter of trying to get higher return on equity or we have like infrastructure issues that the grid requires.

So if it's a matter of pure profit, maybe you've got a better argument.

Then we have to repair the grid.

We have to have more infrastructure needs the like.

So the biggest thing that consumers can do is their voice to go ahead and show up and be present at the meetings, to go ahead and advise their position to say we're we're against this because we think it doesn't make sense.

It's all about profit, not about grid maintenance issues.

The Florida Power and Light has said that this this is below the national average, that these are costs that they are making because they are necessary after repairs to the electric grid after the devastating storms last year.

And so we did some checking.

And so just to see if that's accurate.

And the national average is 17.4 $0.07 per kilowatt hour.

And according to save on energy.com in the state of Florida it's 14.9 $0.08 per kilowatt hour.

So that is accurate.

Um, you know, Dr. Goswami is the push towards solar driven in part by these conversations about raising the the hikes.

Well, consumers are concerned about how much they pay and solar becomes attractive for them.

And that's certainly, uh, gets them to see what they can do in terms of solar power.

Uh, but I think the solar power there is good both for the consumers and the utilities because it puts power into the grid.

At the time when the load is the maximum for them.

So so that saves them that part of the load.

Which they can sell more expensive to other utilities.

And Bill, are you seeing more of your customers asking for this.

Asking for alternatives looking into it.

Yeah, as as rates have continued to go up over the last ten years, we've seen a tremendous growth in the solar industry in Florida in terms of rooftop solar.

Uh, FPL obviously is doing a lot of solar themselves as well.

They see the value in the technology and in the, in the investment.

But but for sure, um, you know, Florida is now I think either number two or even number one in terms of annualized solar deployments even compared to California.

I think we actually beat California this year.

So.

Mitch, when you you touched upon this moments ago, but when you hear cities talk about creating their own utility companies, what is explain what the difference is between the municipal utility company and then the the the Duke, the FPL.

Right.

They basically they do it themselves.

And, you know, um, they take over the structures and all of that and the billing, everything to do with that.

Um, it's interesting that there really hasn't been one, I believe, in 20 years.

I think Winter Haven was the last city to try to do this.

So I don't know if it's because it's more prohibitively more expensive to do it.

I know places like Orlando, apparently they a hundred years ago when they did it.

So that's when you've seen a lot of that already happen.

So it's a bigger reach to try to maybe do this now because of the expense.

Uh, and I think I know I see some commentary on this and people were freaked out when they think of this.

Some people are really worried about it.

And they go, oh my God, you know, yes, we can complain about Duke and the high prices, whatever, but they're there, you know, when when the storms happen, you know, we see the guys there and like that's not going to happen.

And you know, these are good questions that I think the study will come out and we'll get more information on when Clearwater again comes out with the next few weeks, St. Petersburg is deciding whether to do it or not.

They have more customers than clear Clearwater is right now.

I was reading that, um, Maine, the state of Maine actually considered this, uh, a year and a half ago, and they decided not to because it was going to be like $13 billion for the whole state, a little too far to cross.

But nevertheless, the thought was there.

And Maine.

Right.

So I think, um, it's national that the dissatisfaction with your utilities and the fact that it's a monopoly.

Right.

And you don't have competition, that's what makes it a struggle.

Tampa I remember I'm going to go back to like 2007, 2008 when, uh, their relationship with TECO, their contract was going to I think it actually had expired and they were going on a year to year contract.

And there was three of the seven city council members really wanted them to open it up and maybe like do our own thing.

And again, look at it.

And Mayor Pam Iorio was in charge at the time.

That ultimately did not happen.

So this is not even new.

This whole conversation about Bay area, it just reached the point where it is part where it is now?

And I think that there's really, you know, interesting arguments all the way around about it.

But the number one thing that's going to be maybe not happening is because of the cost.

And this isn't something new.

So typically there are trends that that occur and reoccur anytime there's conversations like this.

And Charles, as you know, in the arena of consumer protection, we were talking about that.

When these conversations happen, then you have quote unquote bad actors come and approach residents directly.

And so share some of that, because that may start to happen more, more and more frequently as the conversations intensify about possible rate hikes.

The number one red flag would be when someone comes to your door and solicits you for some service post-hurricane for a new roof for solar, you know, if you were doing your own due diligence, you have a need.

You call somebody, they come out, you do your own selection.

That's one thing.

But where people are actually being asked to go ahead and have these services at that point in time.

We have tons of awful stories about people that have been taken advantage of by really unscrupulous folks in all these different trades.

It's not a matter of soul or only, but, you know, roofing and post-hurricane repairs and such.

So, you know, when someone comes to your house, be very, very cynical.

Um, do you need the service?

What are you getting?

Read the fine print.

Look at the online reviews.

That's a good place for people to see whether or not there's been any problem in the past.

Look online.

They've been sued before by anybody.

So do your homework before you sign any kind of contract.

Because they're reading the headlines, too.

So they are going to mention all of these possible rate hikes.

Let us help you.

We can fix you.

We can fix your problem.

We can fix your problem with these increasing rates.

We're going to give you power back.

Your power is going to get money back.

You're going to make money on this.

All those promises.

And a lot of times they're not coming to pass.

Thank you.

We're going to move on to our next topic.

Turning from traditional energy to renewable.

This may come as a surprise, but Florida has surpassed California as a national leader in solar energy.

However, the industry is facing serious headwinds.

The federal budget recently passed by Congress cuts deeply into clean energy investments and tax credits.

The bright future of Florida's solar industry now actually looks to be cloudy.

Take a look.

Growing demand, lower cost of materials, and lots of sunshine catapulted Florida's solar energy to the top spot for the renewable power, but that moment now appears to be under threat.

The so-called Big Beautiful Budget Bill slashed many clean energy programs, and that has solar industry leaders more than worried.

It's a bit of a funeral for the industry.

How dreadful it is to know that this, this, this industry is going to suffer in the coming months.

I can tell you it's going to take a lot more, considering what's happening with this tax bill, to be able to further solar here in the state of Florida.

Certain tax incentives remain, but time is limited.

The 30% credit for residential solar, also known as the Residential Clean Energy Credit, will end this year to qualify for a 30% tax credit.

Your solar panels must be physically installed on your home and operational by December 31st.

For Floridians facing rising utility costs, the decision to go solar had been more financial than green.

We're still growing.

Currently, we're planning another 80,000ft of growth.

We're looking for a phase two solar project to help us manage that going forward to maintain our costs go down.

We as an organization or a business in general could not afford to do this otherwise.

Beyond disappearing incentives, there is the threat of impacts due to new tariffs, installers warn residents, as well as large solar projects at schools, car parks and solar farms.

They could pay 70% more for imported materials.

U.S. solar manufacturers are now rushing to meet demand.

The Solar Energy Industries Association says the US is on track to produce 50gw worth of solar modules by the year 2030.

That's the power output of 27 Hoover dams.

Development in solar manufacturing is largely incentivized by the bipartisan Chips and Science Act of 2022.

And Dr. Goswami, I'd like to start with you.

How big a role does federal investment play in this industry here in Florida?

Well, the federal investment like in the Chips Act that was mentioned, has been very important because manufacturing left us, went to China.

And this investment brought manufacturing back.

And that's what we want that we want jobs over here.

We want local manufacturing.

So the federal government, when federal government invests money in local industry, some people may call it subsidies, but I don't.

As long as it helps the country, it increases jobs and it increases opportunities.

I think that's a good investment.

How would you say that advanced technology is helping to move us forward in terms of adapting more solar?

Well, advanced technology is important, and we are making a lot of advancements in research, as at USF.

And all of that is important to reduce the cost of solar.

So so it's important for us to keep doing that research and keep advancing.

There's been experts have come out and talked about the increase demand on energy because of computers and artificial intelligence.

So the question that many folks have is, is it realistic to think that solar power could provide enough energy for the daily needs of our organizations, our buildings, our schools.

Solar power can provide a large part of it, although it requires storage with it, which is usually battery storage.

There will be others like nuclear power will also be a part of it.

Uh, and the the conventional power too.

But solar power, I think is going to be cheaper for those data centers to adapt.

Uh, along with the other power sources.

Uh, so but it's not.

Some people when they say 100%, no it's not going to be 100%.

It's going to be part of the mix.

Bill, how has this impacted or has it impacted your business.

Well, so that's an excellent question.

Um, you know, the the big beautiful Bill, um, really has actually brought a lot of customers to our door, uh, folks who want to get projects done before the end of the year that, you know, we're kind of on the fence, uh, you know, about maybe going forward with the project.

Um, so we're my firm is actually completely booked through the end of this year already.

Uh, and a lot of the kind of more reputable contractors are already in that, in that same boat.

Um, but it's certainly created a surge in terms of demand for rooftop solar.

Um, but I will say, you know, even though this is a setback, um, you know, I think in the long run, you know, as we've discussed, solar and battery, you know, those are technologies and technologies get better and less expensive over time.

And so this is a setback for the industry.

Um, I don't think it's a funeral.

Um, I think we're going to continue to see more and more folks adopt solar and battery systems for energy savings and also resilience.

Um, you know, battery systems on a, on a home are an excellent alternative to a traditional standby generator.

Um, they don't have the fuel issues, they don't have carburetors that fail and things like that.

Um, so in the long run, I think, I think this technology is going to continue to make huge advances in the state.

As a business owner, you've been tapped to, you know, be engaged in policy at the state level.

Um, what are some of the things that you anticipate will occur?

I mean, that's a that's a great question.

You know, I think I think there's going to continue to be, you know, improvements that we can make at the state level in terms of policy.

Um, you know, right now, if you look at permitting, uh, for solar, uh, and for battery systems, a lot of the building departments are very slow at turning permits around and getting approvals, uh, you know, for these new technologies.

And a lot of it comes down to just basic understanding of the technology.

It's new and the building departments aren't familiar with it.

So there's there's a lot of learning that has to take place to get familiar with it.

Um, but we could certainly improve that because that would drive down costs for consumers as well.

Um, we're not just seeing that in solar.

Of course, we're seeing that in all kinds of different things in terms of construction.

But, uh, but it certainly impacts us a lot.

And, Charles, we have talked about how consumers can protect themselves.

Right.

And one of the things that you mentioned is net metering.

Can you explain what that is and why consumers should be wary of it?

One of the benefits that comes with solar is the possibility of sending excess power you've generated back to the grid for some kind of a credit or some kind of a compensation.

And so oftentimes those promises aren't met with, again, a lot of these bad actors promising, you know, bigger things.

So be wary of net metering is an issue and promise.

And again, the scams that you're seeing now with in terms of solar, what what are what is the most common, you would.

Say folks that aren't solar contractors, they go ahead and have someone who's got some background.

They rent somebody's license out, they come to your door, really have no experience, no background, and all of a sudden they want you to roll some of your expense into a loan or mortgage or note.

And all of a sudden, if you're combining a solar loan into your mortgage, big problems occur there.

So many are occurring on the normal course.

Mitch, you've covered this industry.

You've covered the energy industry, all of the updates for.

So for quite a long time, what would you say is the risk?

How do you see the Florida's risk in the solar the solar boom in Florida?

What are the risks?

It's interesting.

I mean, I've been here covering news and politics for over two decades in Florida.

And when I got here in the aughts, you know, the power utility companies, we didn't do hardly any solar.

It was it was really embarrassing.

People say we're the we're the Sunshine State.

We don't do any solar.

And that's really changed, you know, and obviously the cost I think going down has been the driver of that.

But I mean even right now, Florida Power and Light, I read something the other day that I think they only had 6% of their portfolio was solar, and that's going to rise to over 30% maybe in the next few years.

So they're putting a big investment into that.

So we have seen this really grow.

I have, you know, living in Florida the last couple of decades.

And as it's been mentioned, we're number two right now, I think in the whole country maybe going to be number one next few years.

Um, the politics of it are interesting.

Um, and this goes back to the 70s, for God's sake, when Jimmy Carter was elected and he put solar panels on the white House, and then Ronald Reagan took him off four years later.

So it's always been controversial.

Uh, and then it's combined with climate change, right.

Because obviously this is a way of getting rid of, uh, alternatives, uh, or providing alternatives, get rid of fossil fuels.

And that has become a mix because I'm thinking like, why did the president, uh, do this?

Like, you know, in terms of, like, get rid of this, this tax credit.

Well, I read his executive order and basically thinks, you know, it was you know, Joe Biden pushed this on people and the Inflation Reduction Act and it's hurting other businesses.

It's costing too much money.

Uh, and, you know, I think again, overall, when we look at our future here, obviously, in this future of the world, there's growing need for energy all around.

That's important.

And then, you know, clean energy is also a big deal as we go forward.

As you pointed out, President Trump is not the first president to roll back these tax credits.

You alluded to 1982 President Ronald Reagan.

Um, and he took away the tax credit then.

And Dr. Goswami, I'd like to ask you, what was the impact then to the industry here in Florida.

You know, that's a good question because we always have to look at history so that we don't repeat the mistakes of history.

So 1982, when the tax credits were removed, Florida had the largest solar industry, not just in this country but in the world.

Florida manufacturers were exporting solar panels at that time to other countries.

But taking that tax credit away all of a sudden, Uh, just decimated that industry.

And so it's not like I'm against taking tax credits away.

But if you do it in an orderly way, uh, gradually, that gives time to the industry to adjust and adapt.

Thank you for your expertise and and your perspectives on this.

You've taken a very complicated subject and really help to break it down so that our viewers can really look at it in a way that they can decide what's best for them.

Uh, again, that's it for us.

Thanks to our panel members this week, Dr. Yogi Goswami, Bill Johnson, Charles Gallagher the third, and Mitch Perry.

Uh, before we go, we have a programing announcement for you in advance of the September 9th election for Tampa City Council District five.

You'll be hearing from the candidates appearing on the ballot on the ballot.

We've invited all of them to join us on the set of Florida This Week.

Those choosing to participate will have the same question and the same time frame to respond.

District Five covers strategic areas of our region where local government decisions can have regional impact, including downtown Tampa and Ybor City.

And that's why we are devoting time and resources to bring you these interviews.

The special election comes after the sudden death of Councilwoman Gwen Henderson.

She was elected in 2023.

So in advance, we thank you for supporting our efforts to be a resource for voters.

Thank you again for watching this edition of Florida This Week.

We'll see you next week.