Armando Olivera, Florida Power & Light president, generally commutes by helicopter from Miami to company headquarters in Juno Beach. When he goes to Tallahassee, he travels on a corporate jet the company plans to replace by a new one paid by all of us customers to this monopoly.

Edward Quiles, production manager of a company that produces bulletproof vests, commutes from Doral to Deerfield Beach. His wife drops him at Miami International Airport's Tri-Rail station. An hour and a half later he walks from the Deerfield station to his workplace.

``I'm upset because I'm paying for his luxuries while I depend on public transportation,'' said Quiles, whose monthly electric bill amounts to about $110.

In the critical debate over FPL's rate increase, its secret executive compensation policy and its questionable links to Florida's regulators, there has been no discussion about the core of the problem: The electric company is flying high in the chopper while its customers are down in the real world.

The arrogance was made evident during a session called by South Florida's Regional Planning Council on Sept. 2 to inform the public about the enormous poles that will dot some Miami-Dade neighborhoods and farmland that are part of a nuclear-plants project at Turkey Point. The public was outraged that FPL representatives stuck to statements and refused to respond to questions in public.

Those communities are concerned over any potential health consequences that electric and magnetic fields created by high-tension wires might pose. Also, many residents don't like the aesthetic challenge of living close to transmission lines that will not run underground.

``When you talk to the community, you have to have an open conversation instead of isolating an individual,'' said Bob Krasowski, who came to the meeting all the way from Naples. ``Everybody wants to listen to the concern of the neighbors. That's the way democracy works. All advertisement that FPL presents on this project is just that -- advertisement.''

FPL executives say they have followed state rules and that they have been gathering information with customers and community partners. All that was required of their company was to be at the meeting. However, a dozen project experts did respond to questions.

``A question-and-answer format would not have allowed everyone the opportunity to comment,'' FPL spokesman Mayco Villafaña said.

According to Villafaña, Florida's Department of Environmental Protection ``found no conclusive evidence of any hazard to public health at the levels of electric and magnetic fields permitted by Florida's standards.''

FPL has been in the spotlight for alleged chummy relations between its executives and members of the Public Service Commission that regulates it. In the midst of the scandal, Olivera wrote a column titled ``Good News from FPL.'' There he explains that, in spite of the 30-percent rate increase the company seeks -- the first since 1985 -- customers will pay less next year, even less than a quarter-century ago.

With soft words, Olivera tries to hide the rate increase behind the estimated oil price, which is a separate component in electric bills. Last year, FPL raised costs to customers due to the increase in oil price, arguing that the hike was out of its control.

Now, when FPL officials lower the bills due to the decreasing oil price, they try to sugarcoat a rate hike as a bargain. Let's be clear: The increase is nothing but an increase. In the end, FPL will be making more profit.

This is what happens when big corporations do not have to respond to the public, but to politicians, regulators and stockholders. FPL has godparents not only in Tallahassee, but also at the Miami-Dade County Commission.

Competition is the only solution. As long as we have one electricity provider, there will be no incentive for FPL to come down to earth and for Olivera to take the Tri-Rail.

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