How will David Jolly lower my utility bills in Florida?
David Jolly's plan to lower Florida utility bills is to cap the rate of profit for investor-backed utilities at the national average, still leaving them an almost 10 percent return while restoring fairness for ratepayers, and to require greater integration of clean and renewable energy into public utilities, which he says can drive down utility costs for all Florida consumers.
David Jolly on his affordability plan, including capping utility profits and fighting for fairness for ratepayers.
The plan, at a glance
Cap utility profits at the national average
David Jolly's plan is to cap the rate of profit for Florida's investor-backed utilities at the national average, still leaving them an almost 10 percent return while fighting for fairness for ratepayers.
Bring clean energy onto the grid
Jolly's environment plan calls for requiring greater integration of clean and renewable energy technologies into public utilities, which he says can drive down utility costs for all Florida consumers.
Return decisions to local communities
Jolly believes government closest to the people knows best and that Tallahassee should stop preempting local communities from making their own energy and environmental decisions.
Why this matters
Across Florida, the monthly bill keeps climbing. Rent. Insurance. Groceries. And the power bill that arrives every month whether the paycheck stretched or not. For some, this is called an affordability crisis. But for many families, it goes deeper than that. This is an economic crisis, one David Jolly says is gripping far too many people across the state.
Florida is slipping away from the people who built it. Half the state does not have enough savings to last two weeks. The first-time homebuyer is now around 40 years old. People are going without health care. The utility bill is one more fixed cost in a household budget that no longer balances. And unlike the weather, the rate a Floridian pays for electricity is not an act of nature. It is a decision made in Tallahassee.
The approach
Jolly's plan starts with who profits. Florida's electricity is delivered largely by investor-backed utilities, and the return those utilities earn is set by state regulators. As governor, Jolly says he would fight to cap the rate of profit for those investor-backed utilities at the national average. That is still an almost 10 percent return for the utilities. But it is a return set by a standard, not by the ratepayers who have no choice but to pay.
The second piece is the energy itself. Jolly's environment agenda calls on Florida to unleash clean and renewable energies across the Sunshine State, requiring greater integration of clean energy technologies into public utilities. He frames it the way he frames most things. Lead with your heart because stewardship of clean air and clean water is the right thing to do. Lead with your head because those technologies can drive down utility costs for all Florida consumers. Not one or the other. Both.
There is a third piece, and it is about power in a different sense. Jolly believes government closest to the people knows best, and that Tallahassee should stop preempting local communities from making their own decisions. He has criticized the state for overturning local votes, from Key West's decision to limit cruise ship sizes to communities blocked from voting on how their own elections run. The energy and environment decisions a county wants to make for itself should not be overruled from the capital. This is the party Jolly says he originally signed up for: less government, local control, keeping the state out of your community.
None of these are theoretical. Jolly says these solutions are within reach right now, and that the current governor and legislature are just ideologically opposed to them. The question is not where a solution comes from. The question is whether it makes life better. For a broader look at how utilities fit into the full affordability picture, see the Affordability plan.
Frequently asked questions
Q. How does David Jolly plan to lower utility bills in Florida?
Jolly's plan has two main levers. First, cap the rate of profit for Florida's investor-backed utilities at the national average, which he notes still leaves them an almost 10 percent return while fighting for fairness for ratepayers. Second, require greater integration of clean and renewable energy technologies into public utilities, which he says can drive down utility costs for all Florida consumers. He frames both as solutions within reach right now that the current governor and legislature are ideologically opposed to.
Q. What does capping utility profit at the national average actually mean?
Florida's electricity is largely delivered by investor-backed utilities whose allowed rate of return is set by state regulators. Jolly's plan is to cap that rate of profit at the national average. As he describes it, that is still an almost 10 percent return for the utilities, so it is not about starving them, it is about fairness for ratepayers who have no competitive alternative and no say in the rate they pay.
Q. How does clean energy lower my bill?
Jolly's environment plan calls for adopting the science of climate change and requiring greater integration of clean and renewable energy technologies into Florida's public utilities. He argues environmentally sound energy technologies both protect Florida's tourism and environmental economy and can drive down utility costs for all Florida consumers. It is his heart-and-head framing applied to energy: right for the environment, and good economic sense for ratepayers.
Q. Why are utility rates a state issue and not just up to the utility?
Because in Florida the allowed profit for investor-backed utilities is set through state regulation, not by an open market. That means the rate a household pays is ultimately a policy decision made in Tallahassee. Jolly's view is that these are choices, and that the current governor and legislature have made choices that favor utility profit over ratepayer fairness. A different governor could make different choices, which is the core of his pitch.
Q. Would Jolly's plan hurt Florida's utility companies?
Jolly is explicit that the cap would still leave utilities an almost 10 percent return, pegged to the national average. His framing is fairness, not punishment. The goal is to align Florida ratepayers with what customers in other states pay for the same service, while leaving the utilities a healthy, sustainable return. He describes it as fighting for fairness for ratepayers, not against the companies.
Q. How does local control fit into lower utility costs?
Jolly believes government closest to the people knows best, and that Tallahassee should stop preempting local communities from making their own decisions. He points to the state overturning local votes, from Key West limiting cruise ship sizes to communities blocked from deciding how their own elections run. On energy and environment, his view is that decisions a community wants to make for itself should not be overruled from the capital.
Q. Is lowering utility bills part of a bigger affordability plan?
Yes. Jolly treats affordability as the core issue under which housing, insurance, health care, and utility costs all sit. He has said Florida is gripped by an affordability crisis and exhausted by culture wars, drawn from town halls across the state. Utilities are one of several fixed household costs he proposes to address, alongside a state catastrophic fund for insurance and expanded workforce and affordable housing. See the Affordability plan for the full picture.
Q. Does the utility profit cap require the legislature to act?
Jolly frames these solutions as within reach right now, and says the obstacle is that the current governor and legislature are ideologically opposed to them. Utility rate policy in Florida runs through state institutions, so a governor works with and pushes the legislature and regulators. His argument is that the will, not the mechanism, is what is missing, and that a different governor would offer a different basket of solutions.
Q. Why does Jolly, a former Republican, support capping utility profits?
Jolly says the party he originally signed up for believed in less government, local control, and keeping government out of your community, but that is not the Republican Party he sees in Tallahassee. He does not frame utility fairness as a left or right issue. His view is that most people do not live their lives on a left-right spectrum, and that politicians should practice politics by solving the most problems for the most people. Fair utility rates fit that test.
Q. How does clean energy protect Florida's economy, not just the bill?
Jolly's environment agenda argues that environmentally sound energy technologies provide greater stewardship of the environment, protect Florida's tourism and environmental economy, and can drive down utility costs for all Florida consumers. Florida's economy leans on tourism, fisheries, hospitality, and outdoor living. Jolly's position is that protecting the natural resources those industries depend on and lowering energy costs are the same fight, not competing ones.
Sources
- David Jolly Campaign, As Governor: Housing affordability (video transcript), https://davidjolly.com/videos/housing · 2024-01-01
- David Jolly Campaign, Investing in Climate Resiliency, Clean Water, and the Ocean Economy, https://davidjolly.com/environment · 2024-01-01
The rate you pay is a choice someone made.
A fair bill isn't a favor. It's what happens when leaders decide ratepayers matter as much as profit. Have a question for David? Visit the Town Hall and ask.