A class-action lawsuit filed recently in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida against two corporate utility companies has the potential to impact electric ratepayers in Madison and Jefferson counties.
The class-action lawsuit, filed on Feb. 22, alleges that Duke Energy and Florida Power and Light (FP&L) forced millions of Florida customers to pay unlawful charges in connection with their electricity rates to fund nuclear power plant projects, some of which have been abandoned.
“These two utilities have racked up huge expenses with nuclear power plant projects – some of which they completely abandoned – and have left ratepayers holding the bag,” Steve Berman, managing partner of Hagens Berman, the consumer-rights law firm filing the suit, is quoted saying. “We believe the consumers in this instance are being forced to pick up the tab for Duke Energy Florida and FP&L in violation of their constitutional rights.”
The complaint alleges that since Nov. 12, 2008, Duke Energy and FP&L ratepayers have been forced to pay unlawful charges to fund various nuclear power plant projects, all of which Duke Energy abandoned in 2013, while FP&L’s proposed expansion of an existing plant has bogged down in red tape. The complaint cites as an example a power plant that Duke Energy abandoned in Levy County, and which reportedly cost Florida ratepayers $1.3 billion, some of it not yet collected.
The lawsuit maintains that the Nuclear Cost Recovery System “facially discriminates against electricity producers outside of Florida and violates the Constitution’s dormant Commerce Clause.”
“The two companies have benefited from this through millions of dollars in recovery costs they received from ratepayers,” the suit alleges.
The complaint additionally maintains, “that the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 and the Energy Policy Act of 2005 preempt the Nuclear Cost Recovery System.”
The suit seeks relief for customers of either utility company, including reimbursement from the companies for costs passed onto customers to fund the nuclear projects. It further asks for a declaration binding on utilities that Florida’s Nuclear Cost Recovery System and all nuclear cost recovery orders issued under it are unconstitutional and void, plus an order enjoining the two defendants from further unlawful charges.
Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP describes itself a consumer-rights class-action law firm with offices in 10 cities. For more on the lawsuit, visit https://twitter.com/classactionlaw.