Florida Public Service Commission native order document 02958-2024

FILED 5/13/2024
DOCUMENT NO. 02958-2024
FPSC - COMMISSION CLERK
BEFORE THE FLORIDA PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION
In re: Petition for rate increase by Duke Energy 	DOCKET NO. 20240025-EI
Florida, LLC. 	ORDER NO. PSC-2024-0150-PCO-EI
ISSUED: May 13 , 2024
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ORDER GRANTING PETITION TO INTERVENE BY
SOUTHERN ALLIANCE FOR CLEAN ENERGY
Duke Energy Florida, LLC (Duke or Utility) filed its Petition for Ra te Increase, minimum
filing requirements (MFRs), and testimony on April 2, 2024. Duke filed its MFRs based on
projected test years from January 1 to December 31 , 2025; January 1 to December 31 , 2026; and
January 1 to December 31 , 2027. By Order No. PSC-2024-0092-PCO-EI, issued April 11 , 2024,
an administrative hearing has been scheduled for these matters for August 12 - 16, 2024. August
19 - 23, 2024, have also been reserved for the continuation and conclusion of this hearing, if
necessary.
Petition for Intervention
On April 23, 2024, the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE) filed a Petition to
Intervene (Petition) in this proceeding. No party filed a respon se to the Petition.
SACE is a non-profit clean energy corporation organized under the laws of Tennessee
and authorized to conduct operations in the State of Florida. The purpose of SACE is to advocate
for energy plans, policies, systems, and cost recovery that best serve the environmental, public
health, and economic interests of communities in the Southeast, including Florida. SACE
represents that it has staff working in Florida to advance energy choices consistent with its
purpose that will serve the economic, environmental, and public health interests of all Floridians,
including SACE members. SACE further represents that approximately 1 ,6 02 of its members
who are ratepayers and dedicated to advancing SA CE's purpose and mission reside in Duke 's
service territory, and that these members constitute a substantial number of SACE 's membership.
SACE asserts that it has presented experts and provided technical testimony and comments on a
wide 	range 	of utility issues 	in 	various 	forums 	throughout Florida, 	including before 	the
Commission. In furtherance of its purpose and mission, continues SACE, the organization has
petitioned 	to 	intervene 	and 	been 	granted 	party 	sta tu s 	in 	numerous 	dockets 	before 	the
Commission.
SACE asserts that the Duke rate plan, if approved, will allow the Utility to raise its
revenue requirement and that the cost to support this additional revenue requirement will be
borne in part by SACE members who are Duke customers through their power bills. 	SACE
continues that its members, as ratepayers, could also be directly and substantially affected by
Duke 's proposed rate plan due to the Utility's continued reliance on fossil fuels for generation.
SACE asserts that this proceeding will provide SACE and other parties, and the Commission, the
opportunity to test the prudence of investment in capital projects and expenses prior to costs

ORDER NO. PSC-2024-0150-PCO-EI
DOCKET NO. 20240025-EI
PAGE 2
being passed on to Duke customers, including Utility customers that are SACE members. SACE
also avers that the rate plan substantially affects the purpose and mission of SACE because it
includes numerous capital projects and other newly proposed programs and policies in the rate
plan that substantially affect the clean energy purpose and mission of SACE and its members.
SACE represents that Duke, PCS Phosphate, Florida Rising, LULAC, and the Florida
Retail Federation take no position with respect to this Petition. Sierra Club and OPC support the
Petition. FIPUG did not respond to SACE prior to the Petition being filed. No written objections
to SACE’s Petition have been filed and the time for doing so has expired.
Standards for Intervention
Pursuant to Rule 28-106.205, F.A.C., persons, other than the original parties to a pending
proceeding, who have a substantial interest in the proceeding and who desire to become parties
may move for leave to intervene. 	Motions for leave to intervene must be filed at least twenty
(20) days before the final hearing, must comply with Rule 28-106.204(3), F.A.C., and must
include allegations sufficient to demonstrate that the intervenor is entitled to participate in the
proceeding as a matter of constitutional or statutory right or pursuant to Commission rule, or that
the substantial interests of the intervenor are subject to determination or will be affected through
the proceeding. Intervenors take the case as they find it.
To have standing, the intervenor must meet the three-prong standing test set forth in
Florida Home Builders Association v. Department of Labor and Employment Security, 412 So.
2d 351, 353-54 (Fla. 1982), and Farmworker Rights Organization, Inc. v. Department of Health
and Rehabilitative Services, 417 So. 2d 753, 754 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982), which is based on the
basic 	standing 	principles 	established 	in 	Agrico 	Chemical 	Company 	v. 	Department 	of
Environmental Regulation, 406 So. 2d 478, 481-82 (Fla. 2d DCA 1981). 1 Associational standing
may be found where: (1) the association demonstrates that a substantial number of an
association’s members may be substantially affected by the Commission’s decision in a docket;
(2) the subject matter of the proceeding is within the association’s general scope of interest and
activity; and (3) the relief requested is of a type appropriate for the association to receive on
behalf of its members. Fla. Home Builders, 412 So. 2d at 353-54; Farmworker Rights Org.,417
So. 2d at 754.
1 	Under Agrico, the intervenor must show that (1) he will suffer injury in fact which is of sufficient immediacy to
entitle him to a Section 120.57, F.S., hearing, and (2) the substantial injury is of a type or nature which the
proceeding is designed to protect. The first aspect of the test deals with the degree of injury. The second deals with
the nature of the injury. 406 So. 2d 478 at 482. The “injury in fact” must be both real and immediate and not
speculative or conjectural. 	International Jai-Alai Players Assn. v. Florida Pari-Mutuel Commission, 561 So. 2d
1224, 1225-26 (Fla. 3d DCA 1990). See also: Village Park Mobile Home Assn., Inc. v. State Dept. of Business
Regulation, 506 So. 2d 426, 434 (Fla. 1st DCA 1987), rev. den., 513 So. 2d 1063 (Fla. 1987) (speculation on the
possible occurrence of injurious events is too remote).

ORDER NO. PSC-2024-0150-PCO-EI
DOCKET NO. 20240025-EI
PAGE 3
Analysis & Ruling
Based upon a review of the Petition, it appears that SACE meets the associational
standing test established in Florida Home Builders. 	With respect to the first prong of the
associational standing test, SACE asserts that a substantial number of its members are located in
Duke’s service area and receive retail electric service from Duke, for which they are charged
Duke’s applicable service rates. Accordingly, SACE states that its members will be substantially
affected by this Commission’s determination in this rate proceeding. As to the second prong, the
subject matter of this proceeding falls within the purview of SACE’s general scope of interest
and activity related to advocacy for its Florida members through its advocacy for equitable utility
policies and rates. 	As for the third prong of the associational standing test, SACE seeks
intervention in this docket to represent the interests of its members as SACE is seeking a
decision in this proceeding that considers SACE’s interests and the interests of SACE’s
members. The relief requested by SACE is of a type appropriate for an association to obtain on
behalf of its members.
Because SACE meets the three-prong associational standing test established in Florida
Home Builders, SACE’s petition for intervention shall be granted. Pursuant to Rule 28-106.205,
F.A.C., SACE takes the case as it finds it.
Based on the above representations, it is
ORDERED by Commissioner Gabriella Passidomo, as Prehearing Officer, that the
Petition to Intervene filed by Southern Alliance for Clean Energy is hereby granted as set forth in
the body of this Order. It is further
ORDERED that Southern Alliance for Clean Energy takes the case as it finds it. It is
further
ORDERED that all parties to this proceeding shall furnish copies of all testimony,
exhibits, pleadings, and other documents which may hereinafter be filed in this proceeding to:
William C. Garner
Law Office of William C. Garner, PLLC
3425 Bannerman Road
Unit 105, No. 414
Tallahassee, Florida 32312
(850) 320-1701
bgarner@wcglawoffice.com

ORDER NO. PSC-2024-0150-PCO-EI
DOCKET NO. 20240025-EI
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By ORDER of Commissioner Gabriella Passidomo, as Prehearing Officer, this __ day
of ------�
SPS
Gabriella Passidomo
Commissioner and Prehearing Officer
Florida Public Service Commission
2540 Shumard Oak Boulevard
Tallahassee, Florida 32399
(850) 413-6770
www.floridapsc.com
..
Copies furnished: A copy of this document is
provided to the parties of record at the time of
issuance and, if applicable, interested persons.
NOTICE OF FURTHER PROCEEDINGS OR JUDICIAL REVIEW
The Florida Public Service Commission is required by Section 120.569(1), Florida
Statutes, to notify parties of any administrative hearing or judicial review of Commission orders
that is available under Sections 120.57 or 120.68, Florida Statutes, as well as the procedures and
time limits that apply. This notice should not be construed to mean all requests for an
administrative hearing or judicial review will be granted or result in the relief sought.
Mediation may be available on a case-by-case basis. If mediation is conducted, it does
not affect a substantially interested person's right to a hearing.
Any party adversely affected by this order, which is preliminary, procedural or
intermediate in nature, may request: (1) reconsideration within 10 days pursuant to Rule 25-
22.0376, Florida Administrative Code; or (2) judicial review by the Florida Supreme Court, in
the case of an electric, gas or telephone utility, or the First District Court of Appeal, in the case
of a water or wastewater utility. A motion for reconsideration shall be filed with the Office of
Commission Clerk, in the form prescribed by Rule 25-22.0376, Florida Administrative Code.
Judicial review of a preliminary, procedural or intermediate ruling or order is available if review
of the final action will not provide an adequate remedy. Such review may be requested from the
appropriate court, as described above, pursuant to Rule 9 .100, Florida Rules of Appellate
Procedure.
13th
May 2024