FL  – On Monday afternoon, the Florida Public Service Commission (PSC) indefinitely postponed Florida Power & Light’s (FPL) nearly $10 billion rate case. Two weeks of expert testimony was set to begin on Monday afternoon, but FPL argued that their witnesses are now protected by non-disclosure, given the company’s newly announced settlement with corporate customers. The Office of Public Counsel and residential customer advocates were excluded from the settlement. 

The Office of Public Counsel, who opposed the postponement, has argued that FPL is overcharging residential customers. Advocates were looking forward to hearings as an opportunity for cross examination and further discovery. 

“Florida families deserve transparency, not backroom deals,” said Brooke Ward, Senior Florida Organizer for Food & Water Watch. “The Public Service Commission must reject any attempt to skip a full public hearing or deny a full and fair review of the original request. This is not a compromise — it’s massive corporations cutting corners to avoid scrutiny and keep customers in the dark. Limiting transparency only protects profits, not people. We’re calling for due process, full hearings on the merits, and real protection for residential customers.”

Without due process and a full hearing, advocates argue the deal brokered between industrial, corporate customers and the utility could mean higher bills for everyday Floridians. The Public Service Commission will be issuing a new schedule once the settlement agreement is filed.

“FPL has struck a settlement with intervening parties who largely represent commercial customers, such as AI data centers, industrial users, and fuel retailers. However, the PSC’s decision to grant FPL a suspension disregards the residential customers’ right to due process,” said Maria Claudia Schubert-Fontes, Climate Justice Program Manager, Catalyst Miami. “Florida residential customers make up 93% of FPL’s total customer base. At a time when the average Floridian is struggling to afford their basic needs and communities throughout the state are experiencing extreme heat advisories that hike up their light bill, residential customer interests should not come secondary to the interests of large commercial companies.”

“Are you kidding me?” asks Mary Gutierrez, Director of Earth Ethics, Inc. and environmental scientist. “This settlement doesn’t just feel unfair—it is disproportionately harmful to residential customers. Between subsidizing large businesses, minimal rate relief, and opaque decision-making, those least able to absorb higher bills are being asked to carry the load. Enough already. Enough with the greed of large organizations, enough with the groups charged with protecting the public not doing their job.”

“The PSC’s decision to halt public hearings on FPL’s rate hike is troubling because rate-setting should be transparent and public, not shaped by backroom deals with Florida’s largest corporate powers. If the PSC signs off on anything close to the nearly $10 billion in requested rate hikes, Floridians will be saddled with higher bills while FPL keeps burning climate-warming methane gas, raking in record profits, and locking Floridians into decades of costly electricity. This is a textbook case of profit over people,” said Raymer Maguire, Director of Campaigns and Policy at The CLEO Institute.