Sorry, Trish, but it looks like the right thing for you and me to do is pony up that extra $9.95 per month that Florida Power & Light says it will use to support more environmentally friendly energy production methods.
Trish and I have had a long-running discussion about whether we should pay the extra $9.95 per month so our electricity utility, Florida Power & Light Co. can invest in green energy production. We both have been reluctant, mainly because we don’t trust our big electricity supplier.
I decided to ask around at the Serve to Preserve summit here in Miami.
Matt Banks of the World Wildlife Fund told me it’s our responsibility to do it to move us away from coal-powered power toward renewable resources like solar and wind. He said WWF has been working with FPL on a number of projects in its Power Switch Program and has actually gotten the energy company to publicly commit to a 15 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and to have 20 percent of its energy production based on renewable resources and to retire at least half of its least efficient coal-burning plants — all by 2020.
The company is under huge pressure to produce more electricity these days, said Banks. FPL is adding new customers at a rate of 100,000 every 10 days. That’s why the company recently tried to rig a deal to build a coal-burning power plant on the edge of the Everglades. Fortunately, the Florida Public Service Commission stopped that stupid plan, but you see why Trish and I are leery of trusting FPL.
Banks pointed out that through WWF’s efforts and pressure, FPL is under greater public scrutiny now, and is more likely to meet or exceed those goals and more likely to do the right thing rather than risk bad publicity.
But back to that extra $10 per month. I asked Banks whether I could trust FPL to really use that money to support greener energy production. His answer was an unequivocal Yes.
“We should all do our part and pay that extra monthly amount to support more environmentally friendly energy production,” Banks said. “Besides,” he added, “it’s the right thing to do.”
- Topic: Politics
- Topics: Global Warming
Buck I went ahead and signed up for the plan a couple of months ago. I was tired of getting the mailers and feeling guilty. And I have to say, it hasn’t impacted my bill as much as I feared. Maybe it’s because I have such a tiny house but my bill didn’t go up a full $10. Besides, even if they’re a bunch of greedy bastards who will say and do whatever makes them look good, like you said, it’s the right thing to do.
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