TALLAHASSEE, Florida — State Supreme Court justices on Tuesday hammered lawyers representing the Public Service Commission and Florida Power & Light Co. over a 2021 rate case settlement that expanded a utility solar program, which was challenged by some environmental activists and consumer groups.
Bradley Marshall, a lawyer with the Earthjustice law firm, told the court that FPL’s SolarTogether program pays its participants at the expense of the general body of ratepayers. The program’s expansion is part of the $1.5 billion case settlement approved by the commission in 2021 that the court was hearing a challenge to for a second time.
“It’s basically free money for them — and making everyone else pay more,” Marshall told the court.
Lawyers for the PSC and FPL argued that solar program participants are not receiving an “undue preference” as prohibited under state law. Those participants, the lawyers said, pay more for solar and do not receive subscription credits exceeding their payments until after seven years while all customers enjoy savings for the program.
