Florida Senate - 2010                                    SB 1104
       
       
       
       By Senator Fasano
       
       
       
       
       11-01012B-10                                          20101104__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to standards of electric service for
    3         investor-owned utilities; creating s. 366.042, F.S.;
    4         requiring the Florida Public Service Commission to
    5         adopt rules establishing standards that an investor
    6         owned utility must follow in delivering reasonable and
    7         reliable electric service to its retail customers;
    8         requiring the commission to analyze each investor
    9         owned utility’s annual distribution reliability report
   10         and other sources of information; requiring that the
   11         commission investigate claims of inadequate or
   12         unreliable electric service; authorizing the
   13         commission to impose a penalty on an investor-owned
   14         utility if the commission determines that the
   15         investor-owned utility does not meet the electric
   16         service standards adopted by the commission; providing
   17         for the penalty to apply each day that the violation
   18         continues; requiring that collected penalties be
   19         deposited into the General Revenue Fund and
   20         appropriated to the commission for distribution to
   21         affected customers as compensation for the electric
   22         utility’s unreliability and for compensable loss
   23         incurred due to the absence of electrical service for
   24         extended and repeated periods of time; providing an
   25         effective date.
   26  
   27  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   28  
   29         Section 1. Section 366.042, Florida Statutes, is created to
   30  read:
   31         366.042 Standards of electric service and reliability.—
   32         (1) The commission shall adopt rules establishing standards
   33  that an investor-owned utility must follow if the investor-owned
   34  utility is to deliver reasonable and reliable electric service
   35  to its retail customers.
   36         (2) In developing these rules, the commission shall
   37  analyze, along with other sources of information, each investor
   38  owned utility’s annual distribution reliability report for
   39  information that:
   40         (a) Summarizes the number of electric outage events;
   41         (b) Calculates the average duration of the electric outage
   42  events;
   43         (c) Describes the cause of each electric outage event; and
   44         (d) Calculates the utility’s average service-restoration
   45  time for each electric outage event.
   46         (3) The commission shall investigate all claims of
   47  inadequate or unreliable electric service filed by retail
   48  customers to determine if the investor-owned electric utility
   49  failed to meet the adopted standards.
   50         (4)(a) If the commission determines that an investor-owned
   51  utility does not meet the electric service and reliability
   52  standards adopted by the commission, the commission may impose a
   53  penalty of not more than $5,000 for each day the violation
   54  continues. The collected penalties shall be deposited into the
   55  General Revenue Fund.
   56         (b) The commission shall order the investor-owned electric
   57  utility to compensate affected customers as compensation for the
   58  electric utility’s unreliability and for compensable loss
   59  incurred by the affected customers due to the absence of
   60  electrical service for extended and repeated periods of time.
   61         (c) Any compensation or penalties paid under this
   62  subsection may not be recovered from the electric utility’s
   63  ratepayers.
   64         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2010.