{"id":402077,"date":"2026-09-17T01:40:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T01:40:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/402077\/"},"modified":"2026-09-17T01:40:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T01:40:10","slug":"public-service-commission-to-vote-on-duke-energy-data-center-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/402077\/","title":{"rendered":"Public Service Commission to vote on Duke Energy data center plan"},"content":{"rendered":"

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. \u2014 A new filing with state regulators is raising concerns about transparency and the true costs of data centers. <\/p>\n

As part of a new state law, all power companies need to file documents with the states\u2019 Public Service Commission by October 1st, laying out a plan to show the cost of data centers won\u2019t be passed onto customers.<\/p>\n

In a brief filed on behalf of non-profit Florida Rising Inc, an attorney says future data centers could create a multi-billion dollar revenue gap for Duke Energy, and customers could be stranded with the costs.<\/p>\n

While Duke Energy did not comment on the numbers specifically, the utility said their goal is to protect ratepayers and that they are the first utility to comply with the requirements of the newly signed law.<\/p>\n

To meet the October 1st deadline, back on April 22nd, Duke Energy filed a petition to approve what is known as a large load tariff, for data centers with the Public Service Commission.<\/p>\n

In the filing, Duke presents its large load customer policy which creates a minimum 20-year term for data centers who would like to be serviced by Duke. Until the company\u2019s next proceeding to reset rates, the policy states that large load customers including data centers will be serviced under existing rates. <\/p>\n

But as commissioners decide whether to approve the petition, the public gets a chance to weigh in. <\/p>\n

In a brief filed on behalf of Florida Rising Inc. by environmental law non-profit Earth Justice, attorneys argue Duke Energy\u2019s proposal ignores the text and spirit of the new data center cost protection law, known as SB 484. <\/p>\n

The brief argues that the law, \u201crequires the creation of a \u2018tariff\u2019- not a mere policy or special contract\u2026that must actually contain the specific numeric rate or rates at which customers taking service under the charge will be charged for electric service.\u201d <\/p>\n

In the brief, attorney Jordan Luebkemann told state regulators, Duke\u2019s as-filed proposal will irrefutably strand the general body of customers with an undisclosed billions of dollars of extra costs that will be incurred to serve data centers specifically. <\/p>\n

The actual costs are redacted from the brief since the information is considered confidential by the Public Service Commission.<\/p>\n

\u201cPersonally, I think that the public needs to know all of the information under basically every black bar in this in this brief,\u201d said Luebkmann.<\/p>\n

According to Luebkmann, Duke was compelled to provide the numbers to Florida Rising Inc as part of proceedings with the Public Service Commission. He says Duke\u2019s own projections show the cost to serve its first three data center significantly exceeds the revenue Duke expects to collect from them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can say publicly that it is billions of dollars of difference. I can\u2019t tell you how many billions of dollars of different, but that difference will fall on other rate payers,\u201d Luebkmann said. <\/p>\n

Luebkmann pointed out that data centers use a tremendous amount of power and argues the proposal to group them with other kinds of businesses is not fair to other customers.<\/p>\n

One state analysis<\/a> found a single large data center can have the electricity equivalent of 500,000 homes. That\u2019s about the same as all of the homes in Orange County.<\/p>\n

Luebkmann says Duke Energy\u2019s current rate proposal would not adequately account for the difference in energy usage.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf this goes forward, we are talking about putting [on the same rate] a 100 square foot office, maybe that has an average demand of one-kilowatt. Compare that to a hyperscale data center that has an average demand of one-gigawatt. That is a literal million-fold difference,\u201d said Luebkmann.<\/p>\n

Channel 9 asked Duke if they dispute the math in Luebkemann\u2019s brief and why the redactions were necessary. A spokesperson sent us the statement below:<\/p>\n

\u201cDuke Energy Florida was the first utility in Florida to present its plan to the Florida Public Service Commission in full compliance with Governor DeSantis\u2019s newly signed Senate Bill 484, Florida\u2019s Data Center Bill. It is important to note that we do not have a large load client in Florida currently and that we were a proud signer of President Trump\u2019s Ratepayer Protection Pledge. Additionally, we just requested a rate cut for customers on September 3 and that cut would take effect in 2027. While Florida Rising\u2019s own website states their goal is to \u201cwin elections,\u201d our goal is to protect ratepayers and support responsible economic development and job creation in Florida that strengthens the reliability of the electric grid that we all depend on.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Channel 9 reached out to the Public Service Commission. <\/p>\n

A representative said regulators will review briefs from both sides and ultimately recommend whether or not to approve Duke\u2019s proposal.<\/p>\n

That meeting is scheduled for November 3d.<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a> to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here<\/a> to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

TOP STORIES FROM WFTV CHANNEL 9<\/p>\n

\u00a92026 Cox Media Group<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TALLAHASSEE, Fla. \u2014 A new filing with state regulators is raising concerns about transparency and the true costs…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":402078,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[6275,2777,44816,10234,21852,59926,159994,28,30,29,17807,159995,129315,634,159997,115,7820,1300,103308,4542,30873,159996,1045],"class_list":["post-402077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-attorney","tag-channel_nine","tag-channel_nine_eyewitness","tag-commissioner","tag-duke","tag-duke_energy","tag-duke_energy_distribution_center","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-greg","tag-jordan_luppman","tag-kelly_martinez_samrad","tag-local","tag-lubman","tag-news","tag-ocoee","tag-orange_county","tag-public_service_commission","tag-sabrina","tag-sabrina_maggiore","tag-sb_44","tag-video"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402077","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=402077"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402077\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/402078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=402077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=402077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=402077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}