Florida Public Service Commission native order document 02134-2024

BEFORE THE FLORIDA PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION
In re: Petition for rate increase by Duke Energy
Florida, LLC.
DOCKET NO. 20240025-EI
ORDER NO. PSC-2024-0109-PCO-EI
ISSUED: April 19, 2024
ORDER GRANTING INTERVENTION
FOR SIERRA CLUB
Duke Energy Florida, LLC (Duke or Utility) filed its Petition for Rate 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 March 25, 2024, Sierra Club filed a Petition to Intervene (Petition) in this proceeding.
According to its Petition, Sierra Club is a national grassroots environmental organization
consisting of over 32,000 Floridian members, many of whom are within Duke’s service territory.
Sierra Club states that its members have an interest in mitigating the harms to public health and
the environment caused by Duke’s burning of fossil fuels to generate electricity, and the
members who are Duke customers have an interest in affordable rates for electric service. Sierra
Club regularly intervenes in similar dockets to protect its members from environmental pollution
and unduly high and inequitable electricity rates. 	As such, Sierra Club contends that the
substantial interests of its members will be directly affected by the Commission’s decisions in
this proceeding regarding Duke’s retail electric rates. No party has filed an objection to Sierra
Club’s Petition 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

ORDER NO. PSC-2024-0109-PCO-EI
DOCKET NO. 20240025-EI
PAGE 2
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.
Analysis and Ruling
With respect to the first prong of the associational standing test established in Florida
Home Builders, Sierra Club asserts that its members include electric customers of Duke, many of
which are low- and moderate-income ratepayers that are sensitive to increased and variable rates.
With respect to the second prong, Sierra Club regularly intervenes in public service commission
dockets to advocate for its members against unduly high and inequitable electricity rates;
routinely advocates for utilities to utilize clean, renewable energy resources; and supports
electrification measures such as electric vehicles. Therefore, the subject matter of this proceeding
appears to be within Sierra Club’s general scope of interest and activity. As for the third prong,
Sierra Club is seeking intervention in this docket in order to represent the interests of its
members in this rate proceeding. Based on the foregoing analysis, Sierra Club’s standing in this
docket has been established.
Sierra Club meets the three-prong associational standing test established in Florida Home
Builders. Consequently, Sierra Club’s petition for intervention shall be granted. Pursuant to Rule
28-106.205, F.A.C., Sierra Club 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 Sierra Club is hereby granted as set forth in the body of this Order.
It is further
ORDERED that Sierra Club takes the case as it finds it.
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).

ORDERNO. PSC-2024-0109-PCO-EI
DOCKETNO. 20240025- EI
PAGE3
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:
Tony Mendoza
Patrick Woolsey
2101 Webster Street
Suite1300
Oakland, CA94612
(415) 977-5589
(415) 977-5757
tony.mendoza@sierraclub.org
patrick.woolsey@sierraclub.org
Sari Amiel
Sierra Club
50 F Street NW, Eighth Floor
Washington, DC 20001
(301) 807-2223
Sari.amiel@sierraclub.org
By ORDER of Commissioner Gabriella Passidomo, as Prehearing Officer, this __ day
of _______,
MRT
Gabriella Passidomo
Commissioner and Prehearing Officer
Florida Public Service Commission
2540 Shumard Oak Boulevard
Tallahassee, Florida32399
(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.
19 th
April 2024

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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.