The League of United Latin American Citizens of Florida asked the state supreme court to review a Duke Energy Corp. solar energy subscription program.
Attorneys for the nonprofit Earthjustice, who are representing the LULACF's interests in the case, on Feb. 24 filed a notice of appeal of the Florida Public Service Commission's Jan. 26 order allowing the program to move forward. Commissioners voted 4-1 to allow subsidiary Duke Energy Florida LLC to create a Clean Energy Connection Program under which customers can voluntarily subscribe to purchase solar power from Duke Energy to help subsidize the construction of 10 74.9-MW solar power plants across the state slated to come online in the next few years (Docket No. 20200176-EI). Subscribing customers receive credits on monthly bills for purchasing solar power.
Signatories of a stipulation agreement to create the program include Vote Solar, the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy and Walmart Inc.
The League of United Latin American Citizens of Florida in July 2020 petitioned to intervene, saying the solar program will provide the majority of its benefits to large commercial and industrial users at the expense of general ratepayers.
Jordan Luebkemann, associate attorney for Earthjustice, said in an interview that the League of United Latin American Citizens supports development of renewable energy development, but "they also believe it needs to be done equitably."
Duke Energy's program, Luebkemann said, places undue burdens on ratepayers to subsidize the construction of the utility's solar plants. That is because it forces ratepayers to pay for the capital costs of building the solar plants on top of paying up to $300 million collectively to subsidize customers who can afford to subscribe to the program.
Duke counters that 87% of the benefits of the program will go to the general body of ratepayers.
"The Clean Energy Connection Program is designed to be cost-effective for both participating and nonparticipating customers and will enable Duke Energy Florida customers to support the expansion of solar power" Ana Gibbs, spokeswoman for Duke, said in an email. "It helps business and governmental customers meet their sustainability goals — all while lowering bills over time."
The majority of commissioners agreed.
"We find that the significant benefits reasonably expected to be realized by the general body of ratepayers over a long period of time support our finding that approval of the CEC Program is in the public interest," the commission majority ruled. "We also note that approximately 27.7% of the residential allocation within the CEC Program has been carved out for low-income customers."
Approval of Duke's solar program follows that of a similar community solar program established by NextEra Energy Inc. subsidiary Florida Power & Light Co.
