Mike Fasano On Utility Rate Increases

Along with Paula Dockery, Mike Fasano is one of the few rationale Republican voices in the Florida Senate. Fasano wrote a letter to North Carolina Gov. Bev Purdue and the NC state legislature. Fasano is urging North Carolina elected leaders to repeal Senate Bill 3. The legislation allowed power companies to increase rates for the construction of nuclear new power plants. With the exception of nuclear power and rate increases, Senate Bill 3 has good things in it about about clean air and using environmentally friendly alternative sources of energy. It looks progressive compared to what comes out of the Florida legislature.

Fasano voted to allow Progress Energy and Florida Power & Light to raise rates. Fasano now admits he made a mistake. That is a rarity in politics.

Allowing utilities to charge customers for new power plant construction work in progress will hurt already strapped customers with possibily large increases in their electricity bills. According to Progress Energy filings with the Florida Public Service Commission, the average Progress customer could see an estimated increase of nearly $50 per month by 2020 from the Levy capital additions.

Because of my deep concern about these impacts on consumers, I am the primary sponsor of FL Senate Bill 200 to repeal provisions relating to cost recovery for siting, design, licencing, and construction of new nuclear and integrated gasification combined cycle power plants.