Bill Text: FL S1104 | 2010 | Regular Session | Comm Sub
Bill Title: Investor-owned Utilities/Service Reliability [EPSC]
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2010-04-30 - Died in Committee on General Government Appropriations [S1104 Detail]
Download: Florida-2010-S1104-Comm_Sub.html
Florida Senate - 2010 CS for SB 1104 By the Committee on Communications, Energy, and Public Utilities; and Senator Fasano 579-03527-10 20101104c1 1 A bill to be entitled 2 An act relating to standards of utility service 3 reliability for investor-owned utilities; creating s. 4 366.042, F.S.; requiring the Florida Public Service 5 Commission to adopt rules establishing standards of 6 reasonable and reliable electric service for retail 7 residential customers which an investor-owned utility 8 must follow; requiring the commission to analyze each 9 investor-owned utility’s annual distribution 10 reliability report and other sources of information; 11 requiring the commission to establish a threshold for 12 what constitutes reasonable and reliable electric 13 service; providing that retail residential customers 14 may file a claim of unreliable service with the 15 commission; providing that the commission may direct 16 investor-owned utilities that are found to violate 17 reliability standards to compensate affected customers 18 who have filed such claim; requiring that the 19 commission investigate claims of unreliable service; 20 authorizing the commission to impose a penalty against 21 an investor-owned utility if the commission determines 22 that the utility does not meet the reliability 23 standards adopted by the commission; providing for the 24 penalty to apply each day that the violation 25 continues; requiring that collected penalties be 26 deposited into the General Revenue Fund; creating s. 27 367.112, F.S.; requiring the Florida Public Service 28 Commission to adopt rules establishing standards of 29 reasonable and reliable water and wastewater service 30 for retail residential customers which an investor 31 owned utility must follow; requiring the commission to 32 analyze each investor-owned utility’s annual 33 distribution reliability report and other sources of 34 information; requiring the commission to establish a 35 threshold for what constitutes reasonable and reliable 36 water and wastewater service; providing that retail 37 residential customers may file a claim of unreliable 38 service with the commission; providing that the 39 commission may direct investor-owned utilities that 40 are found to violate reliability standards to 41 compensate affected customers who have filed such 42 claim; requiring that the commission investigate 43 claims of unreliable service; authorizing the 44 commission to impose a penalty against an investor 45 owned utility if the commission determines that the 46 utility does not meet the reliability standards 47 adopted by the commission; providing for the penalty 48 to apply each day that the violation continues; 49 requiring that collected penalties be deposited into 50 the General Revenue Fund; providing an effective date. 51 52 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 53 54 Section 1. Section 366.042, Florida Statutes, is created to 55 read: 56 366.042 Standards of electric service reliability for 57 retail residential customers.— 58 (1) The commission shall adopt rules establishing standards 59 of reasonable and reliable electric service for retail 60 residential customers which an investor-owned utility must 61 follow. 62 (2) In developing these rules, the commission shall 63 analyze, along with other sources of information, each investor 64 owned utility’s annual distribution reliability report for 65 information that: 66 (a) Summarizes the number of electric outage events; 67 (b) Calculates the average duration of electric outage 68 events; 69 (c) Describes the cause of each electric outage event; and 70 (d) Calculates the utility’s average service-restoration 71 time for each electric outage event. 72 (3) The commission shall use this information to establish 73 a threshold for when a utility’s level of service is considered 74 unreasonable and unreliable based upon factors such as the 75 number and duration of outages, cause of outages, and the 76 average number of customers affected per outage. 77 (4)(a) An affected retail residential customer may file a 78 claim on a form specified by the commission which specifies the 79 number of electrical outages, the timeframe during which the 80 outages occurred, and the duration of each outage experienced by 81 the customer. Customers shall be limited to filing one claim of 82 unreliable service within a 30-day period. 83 (b) Upon a finding that the investor-owned electric 84 utility’s service to the retail residential customer who filed a 85 specific claim failed to meet the service reliability standards 86 adopted by the commission, the commission may order the 87 investor-owned electric utility to compensate the affected 88 retail residential customer for the failure to provide 89 reasonable and reliable service an amount not to exceed $100 for 90 any given month such service was below standards as adopted by 91 the commission. 92 (5)(a) The commission shall investigate all claims of 93 unreliable electric service filed by residential retail 94 customers to determine if the investor-owned electric utility 95 failed to meet the adopted standards. 96 (b) If the commission determines that an investor-owned 97 utility has failed to meet the service reliability standards 98 adopted by the commission, the commission may impose a penalty 99 of not more than $5,000 for each day the violation continues. 100 The collected penalties shall be deposited into the General 101 Revenue Fund. 102 (6) Any compensation or penalties paid under this section 103 may not be recovered from the electric utility’s ratepayers. 104 Section 2. Section 367.112, Florida Statutes, is created to 105 read: 106 367.112 Standards of water and wastewater service 107 reliability for retail residential customers.— 108 (1) The commission shall adopt rules establishing standards 109 of reasonable and reliable water and wastewater service for 110 retail residential customers which an investor-owned utility 111 must follow. 112 (2) In developing these rules, the commission shall 113 analyze, along with other sources of information, each investor 114 owned utility’s annual distribution reliability report for 115 information that: 116 (a) Describes the cause of each water outage event; 117 (b) Summarizes the number of wastewater backflow events; 118 and 119 (c) Calculates the utility’s average service-restoration 120 time for each water outage or wastewater backflow event. 121 (3) The commission shall use this information to establish 122 a threshold for when a utility’s level of service is considered 123 unreasonable and unreliable based upon factors such as the 124 number and duration of outages or backflow events, cause of 125 outages or backflow events, and the average number of customers 126 affected per outage or backflow event. 127 (4)(a) An affected retail residential customer may file a 128 claim on a form specified by the commission which specifies the 129 number of water or wastewater outages or backflow events, the 130 timeframe during which the outages or backflow events occurred, 131 and the duration of each outage or backflow event experienced by 132 the customer. Customers shall be limited to filing one claim of 133 unreliable service within a 30-day period. 134 (b) Upon a finding that the investor-owned water or 135 wastewater utility’s service to the retail residential customer 136 who filed a specific claim failed to meet the service 137 reliability standards adopted by the commission, the commission 138 may order the investor-owned water or wastewater utility to 139 compensate the affected retail residential customer for the 140 failure to provide reasonable and reliable service an amount not 141 to exceed $100 for any given month such service was below 142 standards as adopted by the commission. 143 (5)(a) The commission shall investigate all claims of 144 unreliable water and wastewater service filed by residential 145 retail customers to determine if the investor-owned utility 146 failed to meet the adopted standards. 147 (b) If the commission determines that an investor-owned 148 utility has failed to meet the service reliability standards 149 adopted by the commission, the commission may impose a penalty 150 of not more than $5,000 for each day the violation continues. 151 The collected penalties shall be deposited into the General 152 Revenue Fund. 153 (6) Any compensation or penalties paid under this section 154 may not be recovered from the water or wastewater utility’s 155 ratepayers. 156 Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2010.
