$1.3 billion FPL rate hike hearing kicks off with questions about corporate flights
Wednesday, October 21st, 2009 by Dara KamThe Public Service Commission resumed a prolonged hearing on Florida Power & Light Co.’s proposed $1.3 billion rate hike this morning with disagreements over the utility’s corporate jets.
Testimony is expected to go through 8 p.m. tonight and finish up on Friday.
FPL Group Chief Financial Officer Armando Pimentel sat patiently as the hearing started just before 10 a.m. as both sides argued about accounting for plane flights.
Opponents of the increase questioned how the Juno Beach-based power company’s allocated charges for the jets and helicopters. They want to know whether customers are paying to ferry FPL executives, their wives and guests to destinations including Napa Valley and Louisville during the Kentucky Derby.
The hearings have gone on intermittently since August under a cloud of suspicion about possible conflicts of interest.
It’s not the first time the regulatory agency has been rocked by allegations of close ties with the utilities.




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