A month has gone by since a special commission formed by FloridaGov. Jeb Bush recommended that the state break up its monopolyutilities and pave the way for competition in the power generationmarket, but still there has been no word from the legislature.There have been signs that the state senate will move much slowerthan previously expected on electric restructuring because ofgrowing awareness of what can happen when power planning goes awry.

Duke Energy said it’s still optimistic a bill addressingmerchant generation will surface in the next few weeks because ofthe state’s tremendous need for new generation. A state supremecourt rejection of Duke’s proposed New Smyrna Beach plant has beenthe main obstacle to development. Only new legislation will pavethe way for power producers to build plants in Florida to competewith utility generation.

“I think right now what you’re seeing is a case of everyonelooking at California and being a little bit nervous,” said DukeEnergy’s Richard Hyde, regional director of government affairs. “Weremain very optimistic that at the end of the session, which is theend of next month, there will be legislation passed that will allowmerchant plants such as Duke’s to be built in the state of Florida.There’s a little bit of nervousness about some of the items in the2020 energy report. But we have seen in the past year a generalunderstanding that there is a need for more generation in thestate.”

Hyde said there have been far more “caution flags waved” on theretail side than on wholesale generation issues, which is one ofthe main reasons the Florida Energy 2020 Study Commission put outits interim report last month.

The Florida Energy 2020 Study Commission approved a plan thatwould result in a “systematic transition to a competitive wholesalemarket, but [would be] designed to avoid the problems experiencedin California.” The plan, which was submitted to the Floridalegislature this month, recommends the removal of statutorybarriers to entry for merchant power plants and provides atransition to a “level playing field” for all generation assets(see Daily GPI, Feb. 7).

“Electric restructuring is extremely complex and even more so inFlorida, the way some of their laws are written,” noted Dukespokesman Rick Rhodes.”It’s a big piece of work for any governingbody to take on. They have the [Energy 2020 Commission’s]recommendations. We’re only a small portion of what they will lookat.”

A spokeswoman for the state Senate Committee on RegulatedIndustries said that so far there have only been “placeholder”bills on the house and senate sides with very little discussion onthe key issues to date. “At this time we really don’t have anythingthat has come up,” she said. “We discussed the 2020 Commissionreport, and had a training session to bring the senators up tospeed on electric restructuring in general. We had a counter-pointmeeting with the public service commission chairman. But that’sall. There are five more weeks left but there’s no telling whetherit will resurface right now.”

©Copyright 2001 Intelligence Press Inc. All rights reserved. Thepreceding news report may not be republished or redistributed, inwhole or in part, in any form, without prior written consent ofIntelligence Press, Inc.