The Florida Public Service Commission (FPSC) regulates investor-owned electric, natural gas, and water and wastewater utilities. The FPSC facilitates competitive markets in the telecommunications industry, has authority over intercarrier disputes, and oversees

pay telephone A payphone (alternative spelling: pay phone) is typically a coin-operated public telephone, often located in a telephone booth or in high-traffic outdoor areas, with prepayment by inserting money (usually coins) or by billing a credit or debit ...

s, the federal Lifeline Assistance Program and

Telecommunications Relay Service A telecommunications relay service, also known as TRS, relay service, or IP-relay, or Web-based relay service, is an operator service that allows people who are deaf, hard of hearing, deafblind, or have a speech disorder to place calls to stan ...

. Five commissioners serve staggered four-year terms on the FPSC. Commissioners are appointed by the

Governor of Florida A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political r ...

and confirmed by the Florida Senate. The FPSC Chairman is elected by his/her fellow commissioners to serve a two-year term. Current commissioners include Chairman Andrew Giles Fay, Art Graham, Gary F. Clark, Mike La Rosa, and Gabriella Passidomo. FPSC Mission: The Florida Public Service Commission is committed to making sure that Florida's consumers receive some of their most essential services — electric, natural gas, telephone, water, and wastewater — in a safe, reasonable, and reliable manner. In doing so, the PSC exercises regulatory authority over utilities in one or more of three key areas: rate base/economic regulation; competitive market oversight; and monitoring of safety, reliability, and service.

History

Created by the

Florida Legislature The Florida Legislature is the legislature of the U.S. State of Florida. It is organized as a bicameral body composed of an upper chamber, the Senate, and a lower chamber, the House of Representatives. Article III, Section 1 of the Florida Cons ...

in 1887, the FPSC was originally called the Florida Railroad Commission and primarily regulated railroad passenger and freight rates and operations. As Florida grew, the Commission's purpose expanded. *1887 - Florida Railroad Commission was established, Chapter 3746 *1891 - Repeal of Chapter 4068, abolishing the Florida Railroad Commission *1897 - Enactment of Chapter 4700, re-establishing the Florida Railroad Commission *1899 - First decision issued. Affirmed

Atlantic, Valdosta and Western Railway Chartered in 1897, the Atlantic, Valdosta and Western Railway operated from Valdosta, Georgia, to Jacksonville, Florida, and was nicknamed the ''Jacksonville Short Line''. The line was opened in July 1899, prefaced by a "bohemian smoker" banquet in ...

the right to enter and use Jacksonville Union Terminal *1911 - Jurisdiction over telephone services added *1929 - Jurisdiction over motor carrier transportation added *1947 - Name changed to Florida Railroad and Public Utilities Commission *1951 - Jurisdiction over investor-owned electric utilities added *1952 - Jurisdiction over investor-owned natural gas utilities and safety-only for municipally owned gas utilities added *1959 - Jurisdiction over privately owned water and wastewater companies added *1963 - Name changed to Florida Public Utilities Commission *1965 - Name changed to Florida Public Service Commission *1972 - Jurisdiction over airlines added *1974 - Rate structure jurisdiction over municipal and rural cooperative electric utilities added *1978 - Airlines were deregulated *1979 - Commission composition changed from three elected to five appointed Commissioners *1980 - Motor carriers were deregulated *1985 - Railroads were deregulated *1986 - Safety jurisdiction over all electric utilities added *1992 - Jurisdiction over intrastate natural gas pipelines added *1995 - Legislature opened up local telecommunications market to increased competition *2011 - The FPSC jurisdiction over telecommunications was reduced

Structure

The FPSC consists of five members with experience in fields include

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...

accounting Accounting, also known as accountancy, is the measurement, processing, and communication of financial and non financial information about economic entities such as businesses and corporations. Accounting, which has been called the "languag ...

, engineering, finance, natural resource

conservation Conservation is the preservation or efficient use of resources, or the conservation of various quantities under physical laws. Conservation may also refer to: Environment and natural resources * Nature conservation, the protection and manageme ...

, energy, public affairs, and law. The Governor appoints the commissioners, who are then confirmed by the

Florida Senate The Florida Senate is the upper house of the Florida Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida, the Florida House of Representatives being the lower house. Article III, Section 1 of the Constitution of Florida, adopted ...

. Commissioners serve four year terms without term limits. Prior to 1979, three Commissioners were elected in a statewide election. The 1978 Legislature changed the FPSC to a five-member appointed board. The chair is the chief administrative officer of the FPSC, presiding at all hearings and conferences when present, setting FPSC hearings, and performing those duties prescribed by law. The chair is elected by the FPSC.

FPSC Commissioners

Andrew Giles Fay was appointed to the Commission by Governor Rick Scott in February 2018. He was reappointed to the FPSC by Governor

Ron DeSantis Ronald Dion DeSantis (; born September 14, 1978) is an American politician serving as the 46th governor of Florida since January 2019. A member of the Republican Party, DeSantis represented Florida's 6th district in the U.S. House of Represe ...

through January 1, 2026. Fay was elected Chair from January 2022 through January 2024. Art Graham was appointed to the FPSC in July 2010. He has been reappointed three times, most recently for a term through January 1, 2026. He was elected to serve as Commission Chair three times. Gary F. Clark was reappointed to the FPSC by

Governor Rick Scott Richard Lynn Scott ( Myers, born December 1, 1952) is an American politician serving as the junior United States senator from Florida since 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he was the 45th governor of Florida from 2011 to 2019. Scott ...

for a term ending on January 1, 2023. He was first appointed to the Commission in 2017. Clark was elected to serve as Chair from January 2020 through January 2022. Mike La Rosa was appointed by Governor Ron DeSantis to the FPSC for a four-year term beginning January 2, 2021. Gabriella Passidomo was appointed to the FPSC by Governor Ron DeSantis to fill a vacant seat in the Commission through January 1, 2023.

Jurisdiction

The Florida Legislature established the powers and responsibilities of the FPSC as a regulator of public utilities under its jurisdiction. This includes electric, natural gas, telephone, water, and wastewater. the FPSC exercises the following regulator authority: * Rate base/economic regulation - analyzing requested rate changes and conducting earnings surveillance to ensure that regulated utilities are not exceeding their authorized

rates of return In finance, return is a profit on an investment. It comprises any change in value of the investment, and/or cash flows (or securities, or other investments) which the investor receives from that investment, such as interest payments, coupons, ...

. * Competitive market oversight - facilitating the development of

competitive markets In economics, competition is a scenario where different Economic agent, economic firmsThis article follows the general economic convention of referring to all actors as firms; examples in include individuals and brands or divisions within the sa ...

and issues associated with them. * Safety, reliability, and service-monitoring - promoting an uninterrupted supply of utility services to the general public, and confirms that such services are provided in a reasonable and timely manner with minimal risks. In 2021, the FPSC regulated five investor-owned electric companies, eight investor-owned natural gas utilities, and 147 investor-owned water and/or wastewater utilities. The FPSC also had competitive market oversight for 286

telecommunications companies A telephone company, also known as a telco, telephone service provider, or telecommunications operator, is a kind of communications service provider (CSP), more precisely a telecommunications service provider (TSP), that provides telecommunicat ...

in Florida. The FPSC does not regulate the rates and service quality of publicly owned municipal or cooperative electric utilities; however, the FPSC does have jurisdiction regarding rate structure, territorial boundaries, bulk power supply operations, and power supply planning over 35 municipally owned electric systems and 18 rural electric cooperatives. The FPSC has jurisdiction regarding territorial boundaries and safety, over 27 municipally owned natural gas utilities and 4 gas districts. In addition, the Commission exercises safety authority over all electric and natural gas systems operating in the state.

Consumer Information

The FPSC participates in consumer forums, community meetings, customer meetings and hearings, and consumer publications. The FPSC participates in consumer programs and distributes conservation-related materials through partnerships with governmental entities, and consumer groups. Each year, the FPSC provides educational brochures to Florida public libraries for consumer distribution. The Commission has recently increased its Library Outreach Campaign participants to educate consumers across the state. Through the program, a variety of FPSC publications highlighting practical energy and

water conservation Water conservation includes all the policies, strategies and activities to sustainably manage the natural resource of fresh water, to protect the hydrosphere, and to meet the current and future human demand (thus avoiding water scarcity). Populati ...

measures are distributed to library patrons throughout the year. Events to promote energy efficiency and conservation education are annually observed during October's Energy Action Month, sponsored annually by the U.S. Department of Energy. National Consumer Protection Week observed each year in March, highlights

consumer protection Consumer protection is the practice of safeguarding buyers of goods and services, and the public, against unfair practices in the marketplace. Consumer protection measures are often established by law. Such laws are intended to prevent business ...

and education efforts around the country, and is important to the FPSC's conservation education efforts.

Lifeline assistance

The Florida Lifeline program is part of the federal

Universal Service Program The Universal Service Fund (USF) is a system of telecommunications subsidies and fees managed by the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) intended to promote universal access to telecommunications services in the United States. Th ...

(USP) designed to enable low-income households to obtain and maintain basic local telephone service. The Lifeline program offers qualifying households a minimum $9.25 discount on their monthly phone bills, or a free Lifeline cell phone and monthly minutes from certain wireless providers. Dozens of local, state, and federal agencies, organizations and businesses, and telecommunications companies were involved in the collaborative effort to increase awareness and participation in the Lifeline program in 2021. Promotional activities in 2021 featured National Consumer Protection Week and ongoing efforts to increase awareness and enrollment in the Lifeline program. Each month, the FPSC sends a cover letter and informational packet to two organizations to encourage continued Lifeline outreach to their eligible clientele. In addition, the FPSC attends as least two community events each month to promote Lifeline. As of June 2021, 273,641 eligible customers participated in the Florida Lifeline program. The five companies with the highest Lifeline enrollment in Florida were

SafeLink Wireless TracFone Wireless, Inc. (TFWI) is an American prepaid, no-contract mobile phone provider. TFWI is a subsidiary of Verizon Communications, and offers products and services under several brands. It operates as a mobile virtual network operator ( ...

Assurance Wireless Assurance Wireless is a telephone service subsidized by the federal Lifeline Assistance program, a government benefit program supported by the federal Universal Service Fund. The service provides to low-income eligible people a free phone, fr ...

, Access Wireless,

T-Mobile T-Mobile is the brand name used by some of the mobile communications subsidiaries of the German telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom AG in the Czech Republic (T-Mobile Czech Republic), Poland (T-Mobile Polska), the United States (T-Mobile ...

, and

CenturyLink Lumen Technologies, Inc. (formerly CenturyLink) is an American telecommunications company headquartered in Monroe, Louisiana, that offers communications, network services, security, cloud solutions, voice, and managed services. The company is ...

with 99 percent of the Florida Lifeline customers.

Florida Relay Service

The FPSC oversees the administration of a statewide telecommunications access system to provide access to Telecommunications Relay Services by persons who are

deaf Deafness has varying definitions in cultural and medical contexts. In medical contexts, the meaning of deafness is hearing loss that precludes a person from understanding spoken language, an Audiology, audiological condition. In this context it ...

, hard of hearing or speech impaired, or others who communicate with them. In 2021, the Commission opened a docket to request proposals from companies to provide relay service in Florida beginning in March 2022. Two companies filed proposals, Hamilton Relay and

Sprint Sprint may refer to: Aerospace *Spring WS202 Sprint, a Canadian aircraft design *Sprint (missile), an anti-ballistic missile Automotive and motorcycle *Alfa Romeo Sprint, automobile produced by Alfa Romeo between 1976 and 1989 *Chevrolet Sprint, ...

Communications Company, L.P. (Sprint). After reviewing the technical, financial, and price elements of each proposal, the Commission selected

Communications Company, L.P.'s (Sprint's) proposal on October 12, 2021. Sprint's relay contract to provide telecommunications relay service to the hard-of-hearing, deaf, deaf/blind, and speech impaired Floridians is for a period of three years beginning on March 1, 2022. The contract contains extension options for four additional one-year periods.

References

Official websiteInside the PSC 2015 Statement of Agency Organization & Operations (January 2015)
{{authority control

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

State agencies of Florida 1887 establishments in Florida