In a proposal that might decide the future of green power in Florida for decades, the staff of the Public Service Commission recommended Thursday that electric utilities be required to provide 20 percent of their power from renewable sources by the year 2041.

The proposed rule was immediately decried by environmentalists as being too weak. ''This shows they just don't get it about the seriousness of what's involved,'' said Jerry Karnas, a Florida director for the Environmental Defense Fund. ``Energy independence, climate change -- these are matters that just won't wait.''

The staff's recommendation starts a battle that could be going on for months between environmentalists, utilities, politicians and consumer advocates.

For consumers, the issue is how much they'll be paying for renewables in their monthly bills. For environmentalists, it's stopping global warming.

For the growing number of renewable energy companies, it's the prospect of hundreds of millions of dollars in potential revenue.

The PSC is expected to discuss the proposal during a hearing later this month. The commissioners' decision, probably after more hearings, will be sent to the Legislature, which has final approval.

Karnas pointed out Gov. Charlie Crist has said ''multiple times'' that he wanted to shoot for 20 percent by 2020. Solar power firms and others creating renewable energy have also lobbied for a 2020 benchmark.

A key question is how much renewables should cost consumers. The staff recommends a cap of 2 percent of a utility's annual revenue. That would work out to about $2.40 a month added to the typical homeowner's bill, the PSC staff estimated.

Karnas called the cap ''extremely low, considering they just asked for 8 percent for added fuel costs and they're already charging for nuclear [plants]'' that won't be finished for a decade.

Mike Twomey, a consumer advocate, said costs are certainly important to many customers. ``I told the PSC that it should be elected officials who make the decision about how much we spend on renewables. And right now we don't know how much those renewables are going to cost.''

The staff draft recommends the commission require utilities to generate 5 percent of their power from renewables, such as wind and solar, by 2017, 10 percent by 2025 and 15 percent by 2033.

The requirements are considerably stiffer than the staff's original proposal, a so-called ''strawman draft,'' which suggested 2 percent by 2010, 3.75 percent by 2017, 6 percent by 2025 and 20 percent by 2050.

Environmentalists had roundly criticized that first proposal as being far too lenient, and Karnas said the latest proposal is hardly any improvement. ``This is a snail's step forward. We'd still have the weakest [standard] in the entire nation. The first strawman was so egregiously bad that they had no where to go but up.''

Florida Power & Light has said it could exceed the standards of the strawman proposal if it is allowed to include nuclear power as a renewable -- a request environmentalists decried and the staff rejected.

Following the release of the staff recommendation, FPL spokesman Mayco Villafaña issued a statement: ``We are in full support of the governor's climate change initiatives, including the creation of a renewable portfolio standard for Florida. FPL has made the most significant commitment to renewable energy of any utility in the state, and we believe the right approach going forward is to encourage utilities to build more renewable energy projects.''

Join the discussion

Note: If this is your first time using our NEW commenting system, you will have to LOG OUT and then LOG BACK IN.

The Miami Herald is pleased to provide this opportunity to share information, experiences and observations about what's in the news. Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere in the site or in the newspaper. We encourage lively, open debate on the issues of the day, and ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments and remarks that are off point. In order to post comments, you must be a registered user of MiamiHerald.com. Your username will show along with the comments you post. Thank you for taking the time to offer your thoughts.

     Showing: Oldest first Newest first Most-recommended first Least-recommended first

@Nyx.AuthorDisplayName@ wrote on @Nyx.PostedAtTime@:

@Nyx.CommentBody@

@Nyx.Recommender@ @Nyx.AbuseReporter@