Utility Company Spent 76 Percent Of Renewable Energy Funds On Administration
by John Laumer, Philadelphia 
on 06.26.08
Here's one for the "What were they thinking?" file. An audit report from the Florida Public Service Commission makes it seem as if Florida Power and Light (FPL) saw renewable power as "the competition" instead of as a way to do good by doing well.
The voluntary program charges FPL customers $9.75 per month - on top of the regular energy bill - to help develop alternative power sources...Public Service Commission staff said only 24 percent of the $11.4 million collected from customers went toward developing renewable energy. The rest went to marketing and administrative costs.And this, at a time when energy bills are increasing consumer pain. The good news: management systems can be improved. The bad news: complete loss of credibility for the program.
Imagine what the public reaction would be if only a quarter of the money collected for carbon offsets by an offset vendor actually went to "offset" something? The outrage would be enormous and lasting.
Enough to drive a good man (or woman) off-grid.
Via::Forbes.com, Report: FPL green energy program misleading Image credit::Excerpt from cover sheet of Activities Pursuant to the Florida Energy Efficiency and Conservation Act (pdf file)
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When you siphon 10% or 20% out for administration, it can be overlooked, when you do 40% to 50%, things need to be overhauled, but when you do 75%? You deserve a lawsuit and the people deserve their money back.
This company can't be "fixed" they need to be eliminated.
I live in Central Florida, and FPL is my power company. I am completely disgusted. As a green consumer, I feel duped. There are too many people out there trying to make a buck on being green. It's OK to make money, but the point of being green is to TAKE ACTION. This is clearly a company who saw the marketing potential, without having the ethics to follow through 100%.
--quote--
This is clearly a company who saw the marketing potential, without having the ethics to follow through 100%.
--end quote--
Which is why FPL is actually building a 75MW solar farm in Martin County right? They're not following through so they're blowing tens of millions of dollars (of my own as well, I live in Palm Beach County) on a solar farm. They're also looking to build an offshore wind turbine generator farm as part of this initiative. I'm sure we're all feeling duped by the fact that they're following through on their program.
While the PSC did correctly report on this, it's a common fact in companies that most money goes to administration. Something like less than 20% of money donated to the Salvation Army and the Red Cross actually GO to helping people, it's all administration costs. This is no different. Up-front costs to bring in people and plan have to be paid first before you can break soil.
Unlike James (who apparently likes being duped by the charity business as well as the energy business) I am not so forgiving. Being party to the pitiful showing that is underway may make him see with blurred vision, but for the rest of us, the numbers don't add up.
The $11.4 million collected from customers could have bought a lot more than the $ 2.7 million spent on
wind turbines, solar farms or other energy, and be far more productive.
Nanosolar shipped its first solar panels Dec 19th, 2007 -- priced at $1 a watt. That's the price at which solar energy gets cheaper than coal. I think they would have really enjoyed an $11 million order to get them up and running, or at least a bit of investment capital to speed their startup along and increase production.
A 75% spending deal for administrative costs and an advert campaign to make it look like you are doing something ... means someone lined their own pocket with public funds under false pretenses.
The persons profiting from this scam need sacked, prosecuted and fined in a greater amount than they scooped, then jailed.
Everyone in Central Florida, with FPL as their power company need to begin a class action lawsuit to achieve justice, and to get full value for their renewable energy investments.
The administrators of the program should be put in a forced labor camp. Their assets should be auctioned off to repay the premiums to customers.
As long as criminals are allowed to keep the money and avoid jail time, they will keep doing these things.
A few years ago in Portland a similar incident happened when it was revealed PGE spent about 40% of funds for administration. We had protests for 3 weeks. If there had been 75% spent the protesters would have burned the corporate headquarters down.
PLEASE, someone start a class action lawsuit and start investigating other power companies' renewable energy campaigns. This is criminal, and it's an insult.