Florida Public Service Commission

HB 187 2026

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A bill to be entitled 1
An act relating to the Florida Public Service 2
Commission; amending s. 350.01, F.S.; revising the 3
membership of the Florida Public Service Commission; 4
creating s. 350.129, F.S.; requiring that orders 5
issued by the commission contain adequate support and 6
rationale for any conclusions made by the commission; 7
requiring the commission to provide an explanation and 8
a discussion of major elements of the settlement when 9
issuing an order accepting or denying certain 10
settlement agreements; amending s. 366.06, F.S.; 11
requiring the commission to ensure that the allowable 12
return on equity does not exceed the national average 13
authorized return on equity for comparable public 14
utilities; amending s. 366.07, F.S.; requiring the 15
commission to establish a schedule by which rate 16
change requests may be submitted to the commission by 17
each public utility company; creating s. 366.077, 18
F.S.; requiring the commission to provide a report to 19
the Governor and the Legislature by a specified date 20
annually; providing requirements for the report; 21
amending s. 377.814, F.S.; conforming a cross-22
reference; providing an effective date. 23
24
Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 25

HB 187 2026

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Section 1. Subsection (1) of section 350.01, Florida 27
Statutes, is amended to read: 28
350.01 Florida Public Service Commission; terms of 29
commissioners; vacancies; election and duties of chair; quorum; 30
proceedings; public records and public meetings exemptions.— 31
(1) The Florida Public Service Commission shall be 32
composed consist of seven five commissioners appointed pursuant 33
to s. 350.031. One member must be a certified public accountant, 34
and one member must be a chartered financial analyst. 35
Section 2. Section 350.129, Florida Statutes, is created 36
to read: 37
350.129 Orders of the Florida Public Service Commission.— 38
(1) All orders issued by the commission must contain 39
adequate support and rationale for the commission's conclusions, 40
including the specific facts and factors on which the 41
conclusions are based. While the commission may make conclusions 42
based upon the public interest, as provided in chapters 350-368, 43
it shall specify in its orders a rationale for such conclusions. 44
(2) For commission orders that affect substantial 45
interests pursuant to s. 120.569, when issuing an order 46
accepting or denying a settlement agreement reached by any of 47
the parties to a proceeding, the commission shall provide a 48
reasoned explanation, citing the specific facts and factors on 49
which it relied. In addition, the commission shall provide in 50

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its order a discussion of the major elements of the settlement 51
and a rationale for its conclusions. 52
Section 3. Present subsection (4) of section 366.06, 53
Florida Statutes, is redesignated as subsection (5), and a new 54
subsection (4) is added to that section, to read: 55
366.06 Rates; procedure for fixing and changing.— 56
(4) In order to best meet the needs of Florida households, 57
the commission shall ensure that the allowable return on equity 58
for public utilities does not exceed the national average 59
authorized return on equity for comparable public utilities 60
across the country. 61
Section 4. Section 366.07, Florida Statutes, is amended to 62
read: 63
366.07 Rates; adjustment.— 64
(1) Whenever the commission, after public hearing either 65
upon its own motion or upon complaint, shall find the rates, 66
rentals, charges or classifications, or any of them, proposed, 67
demanded, observed, charged or collected by any public utility 68
for any service, or in connection therewith, or the rules, 69
regulations, measurements, practices or contracts, or any of 70
them, relating thereto, are unjust, unreasonable, insufficient, 71
excessive, or unjustly discriminatory or preferential, or in 72
anywise in violation of law, or any service is inadequate or 73
cannot be obtained, the commission shall determine and by order 74
fix the fair and reasonable rates, rentals, charges or 75

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classifications, and reasonable rules, regulations, 76
measurements, practices, contracts or service, to be imposed, 77
observed, furnished or followed in the future. 78
(2) The commission shall establish a schedule by which 79
rate change requests may be submitted to the commission by each 80
public utility company. 81
Section 5. Section 366.077, Florida Statutes, is created 82
to read: 83
366.077 Report on rates.—The commission shall submit an 84
annual report to the Governor and the Legislature by March 1. 85
(1) The report must include all of the following: 86
(a) An investigation of contemporary economic analyses 87
related to rate changes in this state. 88
(b) An analysis of potential cost impacts to utility 89
customers in this state if excess returns on equity have 90
occurred and, if such excess returns have not occurred at a 91
significant rate, any resulting cost savings to such customers. 92
(c) An analysis of returns on equity models presented by 93
public utilities and used by the commission to determine 94
approved returns on equity for public utilities in this state. 95
Such analysis must: 96
1. Compare models used by federal agencies and other state 97
utility regulatory bodies with those used by the commission; 98
2. Determine whether the models used are generally 99
financially logical; and 100

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3. Determine whether the models used comport with 101
generally accepted economic theory both inside and outside of 102
the utility industry. 103
(d) An assessment of long-term impacts, including the 104
economic repercussions of rising rates of returns on equity, to 105
utilities and their customers in the future. 106
(e) A summary providing detailed information regarding the 107
compensation of the executive officers of each public utility 108
providing service to the residents of this state, or the 109
executive officers of a public utility's affiliated companies or 110
parent company. Such information must include, but need not be 111
limited to, salaries, benefits, stock options, bonuses, stock 112
buybacks, and other taxable payments, expressed both as dollar 113
amounts and as a percentage of the entity's total revenue. The 114
summary must include the profits and losses of each entity as 115
reported in its financial statements and highlight any 116
compensation that exceeds the industry average. The commission 117
shall also include any rationale provided by a public utility 118
justifying compensation exceeding the industry average and, for 119
each public utility, an explanation as to how specific data 120
gathered during the compiling of information informed the 121
commission's decisions on the public utility's rate change 122
requests. 123
(2) The report must provide benchmarking, comparing public 124
utilities providing service to the residents of this state with 125

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public utilities providing service to the residents of other 126
states, and include commentary on all findings. 127
Section 6. Paragraph (b) of subsection (5) of section 128
377.814, Florida Statutes, is amended to read: 129
377.814 Municipal Solid Waste-to-Energy Program.— 130
(5) FUNDING.— 131
(b) Funds awarded under the grant programs set forth in 132
this section may not be used to support, subsidize, or enable 133
the sale of electric power generated by a municipal solid waste-134
to-energy facility to any small electric utility eligible to 135
petition the commission under s. 366.06(5) s. 366.06(4). 136
Section 7. This act shall take effect July 1, 2026. 137