Florida Public Service Commission rejects Duke Energy’s data center plan

The Florida Public Service Commission (PSC) on Tuesday rejected Duke Energy Florida’s proposal to pay data center costs, 5-0.

The agency found that the proposal did not demonstrate compliance with legislation passed earlier this year that requires large load customers to bear their full costs of service without shifting them to the taxpayers.

The announcement is not a surprise, as PSC staff recommended late last month that the panel deny Duke’s proposal for a large data center tariff.

“Today’s decision reinforces our commitment to upholding those protections as Florida’s energy needs continues to grow,” said PSC Chair Gabriella Passidomo Smith in a written statement. “We appreciate Duke Energy’s efforts to address the unique challenges associated with serving these large load customers and are confident the company can build on those efforts to develop a tariff that meets the Legislature’s requirements while supporting Florida’s continued growth.”

The Florida Legislature passed and Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation earlier this year (SB 484) establishing requirements for electric public service utilities serving large load customers, such as hyperscale data centers. Utilities must “reasonably ensure” large load customers bear the full cost of their electric service and that neither those costs, nor risk of nonpayment, are shifted to the general body of ratepayers.

Duke’s proposal, originally filed in a petition to the PSC, was the first test of whether the law protects ratepayers. In hearings before the PSC in September, Duke declined to make public the full costs for residential and small business ratepayers.

“Duke Energy Florida appreciates the Florida Public Service Commission’s careful review,” said Duke spokesperson Ana Gibbs. “We remain focused on getting this right for Florida by supporting economic growth and new jobs while protecting costs for customers and ensuring that data centers pay their full cost of service.”

Consumer advocates cheered the outcome.

“The only reason that utility regulators denied Duke’s plans to pass data center costs to families and small businesses is because of legislation preventing them from doing so,” said Brooke Ward, Florida state director for Food & Water Watch. “Otherwise, Florida ratepayers would be on the hook to subsidize the billionaire tech class looking to build data centers in our communities, at our expense. Today’s vote is a victory for affordability and testament to the importance of laws that put people above corporations.”

Data centers have been emerged a huge issue on the campaign trail nationally and in Florida this year.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds has received more than $6 million in direct donations and advertising support from data center boosters, as reported by Seeking Rents’ Jason Garcia.

A year ago he voted for the U.S. House’s version of the One Big Beautiful Bill, which includes a 10-year moratorium on enforcement of state or local regulations for “artificial intelligence models, artificial intelligence systems, or automated decision systems.” He has since said he no longer supports that provision but does support the power of local governments to decide whether they want data centers in their communities.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate David Jolly has said that, if elected, he would impose a one-year moratorium on construction of data centers. After visiting a part of Northern Virginia with the highest density of data centers in the country in September, he said a complete ban on data centers “should be on the table.”

Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com.