Office of Public Counsel is
battlING proposed rules
By Kari Hebrank
& Scott Jenkins,
Carlton Fields
8
Pointing to concerns about
the effects on millions of utility
customers, the state Office of
Public Counsel is continuing to
battle proposed rules for carrying
out a law that is expected to lead
to building more underground
power lines in Florida. The Office of
Public Counsel, which represents
consumers in utility issues, has
made a series of legal moves
during the past week, after the
Florida Public Service Commission
on Oct. 3 approved the proposed
rules. “The substantial interests of
the citizens require that these
complex issues be presented
and resolved after holding the
rulemaking hearing in abeyance
and conducting a formal
proceeding to determine essential,
but missing, facts … including an
evidentiary hearing where experts
for the utilities and the customers
can, after conducting discovery,
present their sworn testimony,
subject to cross-examination, and
file post-hearing briefs,” Thursday’s
filing said..
The moves included requesting
a public hearing on the proposed
rules, a hearing that the Public
Service Commission has
scheduled for Tuesday. But the
Office of Public Counsel argued
that is too short of a timeframe.
It unsuccessfully sought a
continuance of the hearing and,
on Thursday, filed a request to
suspend the hearing and to hold a
separate type of proceeding that
would include gathering evidence
and considering sworn testimony
from experts. The filings include issues about
often-dense administrative
procedures, but bigger picture
they involve how to move forward
with a new law aimed at building
more underground power lines
and trying to make Florida’s
electric system better able to
withstand hurricanes. Part of the
law includes a key change in the
way such projects are financed.
That change is expected to
lead to more storm-protection
projects, but it also could spur
increases in customers’ monthly
DITCHMEN • OCTOBER 2019