My co-editor Trish is a nice person with good intentions who wants to save the environment. Which is why she signed up a couple of years ago for Florida Power & Light’s Sunshine Energy program that was intended to support development of alternative energy sources. About 39,000 other Floridians joined Trish in adding an additional $9.75 per month to their electric bill to support wind farms in Montana, among other things FPL was supposedly doing to develop “green” power sources.

Sorry, Trish, but according to the Miami Herald, the state’s Public Service Commission has put the kibosh on the program because, well — and I hope you’re sitting down when you read this — FPL didn’t do what it said it was going to do with the money. Ahem, your money.

See Trish, of your $9.75 a month, only about 20 percent — less than $2 — was actually being spent on developing alternative electrical resources. The rest was going … somewhere. It wasn’t really clear where that 80 percent was going. There was vague talk about administrative expenses and marketing, but the PSC was just bumfuzzled about where the money went because — get this — the accounting by the subcontractor that was supposed to buy the green energy was so poor.

But to hear FPL tell it, the company did nothing legally or morally wrong:

The utility had acknowledged in regulatory filings that the program could be improved and it volunteered to do so, but it said Sunshine Energy met the requirements laid down by the commission in a formal document called a tariff, which did not specify what percentage of contributions should go directly to renewable energy.

But don’t expect to see any of the money you contributed returned to you, Trish. Since FPL complied with the tariff as written by the PSC (no matter how poorly), it is under no legal obligation to refund the funds. Some FPL customers who contributed to the fund are demanding a public apology from the company, but I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for that.

In the interest of full disclosure, I almost joined the fund a year ago after attending the Governor’s Climate Change Summit in Miami. I spoke with a guy there who said we should all support programs like Sunshine Energy because it’s the right thing to do. I just was never convinced that FPL would do the right thing with the money, so I didn’t join up. That doesn’t make me wiser than Trish and her 39,000 cohorts. It just means that after years of abuse by FPL (I was out of electricity a total of three weeks during the hurricanes of 2005 due mainly to faulty utility poles installed by FPL that had to be replaced before power could be restored), I simply didn’t and don’t trust the company.

Remember — Florida Power & Light tried to build a coal-burning power plant on the edge of the Everglades that would have spewed mercury-laced emissions all over the River of Grass. The Public Service Commission performed a true public service in April by denying the permit for that project.

FPL — you just can’t trust ‘em.

Update from Trish: Checked the FPL bill I paid last week, and there was the $9.75 Sunshine energy charge. I called the 800# and after 3 minutes, 25 seconds of listening to menu options that didn’t apply (no, I don’t want to know my last payment amount or change my billing address), I got in the queue to speak to a representative. A recording cut in to say that due to the volume of calls, my wait time might be excessive and I should leave my phone number to be called back. I did so, waiting while the simulated operator confirmed in painstakingly slow, perfect elocution each digit of my area code and phone number, followed by each letter of my last name. Finally, just as my lunch heated up and I was ready to eat, Whitney called me back. I explained that I wanted the Sunshine energy charge removed from future bills, and he said I’d have to be transferred to the department handling that. Next, Bertha came on the line and I was immediately disconnected. This time, I jammed the “0″ key sooner and more often, cutting in half the time it took to get a person. This person transferred me to the department that handles these requests, and I was assured the charge would not appear on my next bill. But if I have any questions in the future, I can call the correct department direct at 1-888-FPL-GREEN. I snorted derisively and hung up.