Clean Energy Advocates To Rally During Hillsborough Commission Meeting

TAMPA, FL — As Hillsborough County residents brace for high summer energy bills, advocates will hold a rally outside the Frederick B. Karl County Center, 601 E Kennedy Blvd., Tampa, on Thursday starting at 8:30 a.m., as the Hillsborough County Commission meets inside for its regular meeting.

Organized by Food & Water Watch, the rally is being organized to protest TECO's continued use of what Food & Water Watch senior Florida organizer Brooke Ward describes as "expensive, dirty fossil fuels driving rising electricity rates."

The rally comes two months after the Hillsborough County Commission took a first step to address fossil fuel rate hikes. At that meeting, the commission agreed to send the Florida Public Service Commission, which approves utility rate increases, a letter requesting that the hearing be held in Tampa rather than in Tallahassee, so impacted residents can attend.

The commission has not addressed the issue since its April 12 meeting.

Since January 2019, the average Tampa Electric bill has increased 62 percent, "largely due to a continued reliance on costly, dirty fossil fuels like fracked gas," said Ward.

She said this trend is expected to continue since TECO has proposed an expansion of its fracked gas projects.

Nearly a week after the city of Tampa released its Climate Action & Equity Plan to move away from fossil fuels with the impact of lowering electricity bills, advocates said they are rallying to encourage Hillsborough County follow suit.

Related:

• County Commission Wants Energy Hearings Held In Tampa, Not Tallahassee
• Environmentalists Say TECO's 10-Year Plan Too Dependent On Fossil Fuel

TECO filed its 10-year plan with the Florida Public Service Commission on April 7 with a proposal to increase its use of fracked gas from 2021 levels by 1.4 percent.

Under the plan outlining the utility’s power needs and power generation plans for the next decade, TECO, which serves about 830,000 customers in West Central Florida, said natural gas generated by fracking operations will constitute 78.1 percent of the total energy it generates.

Ward said research by Food & Water Watch shows Tampa Electric’s continued reliance on fracked gas undermines its efforts to ramp up renewable energy production.

In addition, TECO's high fossil fuel costs are responsible for the latest energy bill increase by TECO that went into effect April 1, said Food & Water Watch.

"Renewables are proven to deliver cheaper electricity than fossil fuels like fracked gas," Ward said. Ward said TECO's plan demonstrates how increasing access to solar energy could eliminate increased rate charges, and that 100 percent solar could drop rates to under $30 a month.

The typical residential customer’s monthly energy bill increased by about 10 percent, or from $14.66 to $161.38 for 1,000 kilowatt-hours of use, from the $146.72 customers paid last year. Commercial and industrial customers’ increased from 5 to 10 percent, depending on usage.

TECO, however, said the April 1 rate increase it requested in January is intended to recoup $131 million in expenses incurred for the prompt restoration of power after Hurricanes Ian and Nicole and five other storms in 2022.

It also will allow the company to weather the extreme volatility of natural gas prices in 2022, which increased by more than 70 percent over the previous year, resulting in home energy costs reaching near 10-year highs in the United States, TECO said in a statement to Patch.

The rally comes after Tampa Mayor Jane Castor released the city's Climate Action & Equity Plan calling for the city to move away fossil fuels with the impact of lowering electricity bills.

On Friday, Castor announced the release of Tampa's first Climate Action & Equity Plan, emphazing the use of clean energy and resilient infrastructure as identified in Castor's Resilient Tampa Roadmap when she was elected to office.

For two years, the city worked with scientists, community members, energy modelers and staff to outline how the city of Tampa will address the challenges posed by growth and climate change by reducing carbon emissions while adding infrastructure to make Tampa a more sustainable and resilient city, Castor said.

The new climate plan includes 143 initiatives across 10 categories, including water, land use and energy.

“Through the actions identified in the Climate Action & Equity Plan, our city departments now have clear guidance on how to consider climate impacts and infrastructure opportunities in the capital planning process,” said Castor during a news conference at the Loretta Ingraham Community Center, the site of the city’s second installation of solar on a city building, following the city center at Hanna Avenue, which is currently under construction.

“Our stormwater projects will consider heavier and more intense rainfall, community centers will be outfitted with energy efficiency projects and solar, and we will continue to promote more sustainable transit options," Castor said.

The release of the plan comes on the heels of Washington, D.C, and the state of Florida making historic investments in clean energy solutions and resilient infrastructure.

“Across Florida, the escalating costs of the climate crisis are squeezing our neighbors and threatening our way of life. We need relief and solutions,” said U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Tampa. “Mayor Castor and the city of Tampa are implementing solutions to reduce harmful climate pollution and build a more resilient community."

Kathy Castor noted that the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will provide resources to cities and counties for cost-effective solar power, transit, resiliency, and electric vehicles and charging stations.

"It’s exciting to see much of the work I did as chair of the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis come to fruition in my hometown — and we are just getting started," Kathy Castor said.

The Tampa Climate Action & Equity Plan builds on a growing body of recommendations coordinated through Whit Remer, the city of Tampa sustainability & resilience officer.

“This plan means Tampa joins thousands of cities, states and businesses working to take advantage of the clean energy economy while also providing healthier and safer places for people to work, live, and play,” said Remer.

In addition to the Climate Action & Equity Plan, the city commissioned a report to identify options for municipal operations to run on renewable energy, said Remer, partnering with the CLEO Institute, a nonprofit climate education organization focused on working with communities on the front line of climate change impacts. CLEO used neighborhood ambassadors, listening sessions and youth engagement to ensure that people from across every part of Tampa were represented in the plan.

Additionally, on Tuesday the U.S. Department of Commerce announced its first Climate Resilience Regional Challenge, which will provide $575 million in funding through President Joe Biden’s Investing in America agenda to help coastal and Great Lakes communities become more resilient to extreme weather and other impacts of the climate crisis. The challenge is the first and largest funding opportunity released under the $2.6 billion Inflation Reduction Act climate resilience framework that the department unveiled earlier this month.

“Through this first-ever regional approach to strengthening climate resilience, the Biden-Harris Administration is ensuring that communities across the country, especially underserved communities, have the resources they need to prepare for the growing impacts of the climate crisis,” said U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo. “As part of President Biden's Investing in America agenda, the Climate Resilience Regional Challenge will help communities that share common challenges work together to develop innovative solutions while equipping them with essential resources to build a climate-ready future.”

“The challenge provides an unprecedented opportunity to work hand-in-hand with communities to develop tailored solutions that reduce risk and address coastal climate-related hazards,” said Nicole LeBoeuf, director of NOAA's National Ocean Service. “This investment will help align resources at the federal, state, tribal and regional levels, while emphasizing access for underserved communities, ensuring that all Americans benefit from this transformative approach to building resilience.”

Archie Collins, president and chief executive officer of Tampa Electric, defended TECO's 10-year plan saying, even with the rate increase, the typical residential bill for TECO customers is among the lowest in Florida.

"Tampa Electric has a long legacy of environmental stewardship. Since 2000, Tampa Electric has reduced its use of coal by about 90 percent and cut our carbon footprint in half," Collins said.

Collins said three new solar plants in Hillsborough County (Laurel Oaks Solar, Riverside Solar and Big Bend Solar II Phase 2) began producing solar electricity at the beginning of 2023. Tampa Electric’s solar projects can now produce 1,000 megawatts of electricity, enough to power more than 160,000 homes, he said.

Additionally, TECO has another 230 megawatts of solar power under construction, with more planned by the end of 2025, Collins said, enabling the company to produce more than 1,600 megawatts of solar power, serving 260,000 homes.

When those projects are complete, he said. Tampa Electric will have about 17 percent of its energy generated from the sun – the highest percentage of solar generation of any utility in the state.

As a result, said Collins, TECO's investment will reduce the impact of volatile natural gas prices, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 2.35 million tons every year (roughly equal to removing 500,000 cars from the road) and save 4.3 billion gallons of water by repurposing agricultural land for solar.

Food & Water Watch applauded the city of Tampa's Climate Action & Equity Plan, noting that it also encourages policymaking and incentives to transition fossil fuels out of the public sector, pointing to policies in other major cities to get around investor-owned utilities’ reliance on fossil fuels through mandates, monitoring and incentives.

It also outlines how a renewable energy transition will impact electric bills by reducing and ultimately eliminating recent fossil fueled rate hikes, said Ward, who was instrumental in passing Tampa’s 2021 clean energy resolution.

“After years of organizing, we are happy to see a comprehensive City of Tampa plan to phase out fossil fuels in our community. But city action in a silo will be ineffective. The Hillsborough County Commission must follow suit and pass a countywide climate action and equity plan to address our community’s unsustainable fossil fuel reliance," she said. "Our rising energy bills and rising seas are intertwined, and as we speed toward a climate tipping point, it is imperative that our local elected officials do all they can to curtail the use of fossil fuels and end skyrocketing energy bills.”

Among those speaking at Thursday's rally will be Ward, Dave Coleman, a Tampa resident struggling with high energy bills and Stephen Kauffman of the Hillsborough League of Women Voters.