{"id":250316,"date":"2026-04-28T23:03:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T23:03:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/250316\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T23:03:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T23:03:09","slug":"advocates-urge-florida-senate-leader-to-support-energy-reforms-amid-rising-bills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/250316\/","title":{"rendered":"Advocates urge Florida Senate leader to support energy reforms amid rising bills"},"content":{"rendered":"

BRADENTON, Fla. (WWSB<\/a>) – Energy and climate advocates gathered Tuesday to urge Senate President-Elect Jim Boyd to support affordable energy reforms as Florida residents face steep electricity bills.<\/p>\n

The event was organized by the Hillsborough Affordable Energy Coalition and Food & Water Watch, along with several partner groups. Organizers used a fishing-themed message to call on Boyd to \u201creel in\u201d utility bills and corporate profits.<\/p>\n

According to Food & Water Watch, residential electric bills rose sharply between December 2020 and January 2026. The group said Tampa Electric bills increased 86%, or about $980 more annually. Duke Energy bills increased 49%, or about $747 more annually. Florida Power & Light bills increased 45%, or about $511 more annually.<\/p>\n

The group cited a report from the CLEO Institute published last month. The report found Tampa Electric\u2019s CEO made $2.4 million in 2024, Duke Energy\u2019s CEO made $6.3 million, and Florida Power & Light\u2019s CEO made $11.4 million.<\/p>\n

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Organizers said the same report found customers of Tampa Electric, Duke Energy and Florida Power & Light paid three of the 10 highest bills in the country last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile Florida families have seen electricity bills go through the roof, CEOs of Florida\u2019s corporate energy utilities are making multi-million-dollar salaries,\u201d Food & Water Watch Florida Organizer Isabella Moeller said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Alyssa White, a climate justice organizer with Florida Student Power, said rising utility costs are affecting both students and families across the Tampa Bay area.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a TECO customer, I\u2019m tired of being asked to pay more year after year while corporate profits continue to grow,\u201d White said.<\/p>\n

The coalition event included Food & Water Watch, Florida Rising, Florida Student Power, genCLEO, Sierra Club, Tampa DSA, Central Florida Jobs with Justice, and the League of Latin American Citizens.<\/p>\n

A Florida Power & Light spokesperson said the typical customer bill has gone up $2.50 this year. The increase funds infrastructure improvements and power plants, the spokesperson said. The spokesperson said FPL costs are 30% below the national average, and when adjusted for inflation, power bills are 20% lower today compared to 20 years ago. All utility rates are approved by the Public Service Commission.<\/p>\n

A group organizer said the average Florida Power & Light customer\u2019s bills have risen by about 45% in the past five years, which is about $500 more annually.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s happening because our utility regulators, the Public Service Commission, continues to approve rate increase after rate increase year after year,\u201d the organizer said.<\/p>\n

The organizer said Florida Power & Light received one of the largest utility rate hikes in U.S. history last year.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 WWSB. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BRADENTON, Fla. (WWSB) – Energy and climate advocates gathered Tuesday to urge Senate President-Elect Jim Boyd to support…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":250317,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[5591,28,109572,30,29,2837,12295,109573],"class_list":["post-250316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-duke-energy-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-electricity-bills","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-florida-power-light","tag-public-service-commission","tag-tampa-electric-rate-increase"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=250316"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250316\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/250317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}