Florida Court Blocks Push to Break Electricity Monopolies
MIAMI -
Florida’s top court ruled against a proposed constitutional amendment that would have allowed customers to pick their electricity provider, threatening monopolies held by NextEra Energy Inc. and Duke Energy Corp.
In a ruling Thursday, the court said the petition’s language is “misleading” and doesn’t comply with requirements to be included on the 2020 ballot. The measure’s sponsor, Citizens for Energy Choice, said the move ends the initiative.
“While we were confident in our plan to gather the remaining signatures required, we cannot overcome this last obstacle,” the group’s chair, Alex Patton, said in a statement.
The proposed measure was one of several efforts underway to deregulate U.S. electricity markets. Earlier this week, two Virginia state lawmakers unveiled a bill to allow residents and businesses to pick their electricity provider, threatening Dominion Energy Inc.’s longstanding local monopoly. And in Arizona, where Arizona Public Service Co. has long reigned, regulators are considering a similar move.
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BC Hydro Expects To See Electricity Usage Rise This Holiday Season
VANCOUVER - BC Hydro data showed residential electricity load in the Cariboo and throughout the province dropped on Christmas Day and Boxing Day in 2020.
Northern Community Relations Manager, Bob Gammer, said the decrease was due in part to more people following the COVID-19 restrictions and did not get together for big meals.
However, this year Gammer said between 4 and 10 pm on those two days, BC Hydro does expect to see a change in overall usage.
“On Christmas Day and Boxing Day, we expect to see increases through those hours and a little bit more so between 4 and 10 pm…
