Florida · Florida Public Service Commission (FPSC)

Auditing FPL commercial bills

Most of Florida's Atlantic coast, South Florida and Southwest Florida, plus Northwest Florida in the former Gulf Power territory.

FPL is the largest electric utility in Florida, and since absorbing Gulf Power it serves both peninsular Florida and the Panhandle under one tariff. Florida does not have retail choice, so FPL bills both supply and delivery on one statement, which keeps bills simpler to read but puts the whole charge under one tariff. Commercial schedules are organized by demand: GS-1 for small non-demand accounts, GSD-1 for general demand service, and GSLD-1 for large demand accounts, each with a time-of-use version. Fuel, capacity, conservation and environmental clause charges are adjusted by the FPSC and appear on every bill. For multi-site operators, the issues we find most at FPL are accounts on the wrong demand class after a change in load, time-of-use versions that cost more than the standard schedule for a site's load shape, and sales tax and gross receipts tax applied incorrectly. Hurricane-related estimated reads also produce true-up errors.

Practice notes

Florida's overbilling rule does not set a fixed look-back. Refunds cover the period the overcharge occurred, so long-standing errors can produce large refunds. The limit in practice is the available record, which is why we pull every bill, meter test and interval file the utility holds before building a claim with FPL.

Florida taxes commercial electricity, along with local gross receipts and franchise charges, and exemptions for nonprofits, government entities and qualifying manufacturing use depend on certificates on file with the utility. When a certificate was never filed, the fix is prospective, and recovering past tax requires a separate refund process. We file both.

Review deposits annually. FPL can hold a deposit on commercial accounts, and many multi-site operators never ask for it back after years of on-time payments. Deposit refunds are not a billing error, but they are cash returned, and they often add up to a material sum across a large portfolio.

Back-billing and refunds

Florida Administrative Code Rule 25-6.106 sets the rules for underbilling and overbilling by electric utilities. When a customer has been overbilled, the utility must refund the overcharge for the period during which it occurred, based on available records, or a reasonable estimate if the start date cannot be determined. The customer can choose a bill credit or a one-time payment. For undercharges caused by the utility's own mistake, the rule limits back-billing to twelve months, with exceptions for certain meter-related situations covered by other rules.

Findings we see most often

Wrong rate schedule
Sites on GSDT-1 or GSLDT-1 whose afternoon load makes the standard schedule cheaper, or accounts left in the wrong demand class.
Sales tax on exempt usage
Florida sales tax charged on electricity used by exempt organizations or for qualifying manufacturing use.
Estimated reads never trued up
Estimated reads after storms, followed by a true-up spread across the wrong periods.
Late fees and unreturned deposits
Deposits held long after the account established good payment history, and late fees on bills that posted late.

Commercial schedules we check

Schedule	Applies to	What we check
GS-1General Service, Non-Demand	Small commercial accounts with demand below roughly 20 kW.	Check whether growing sites have crossed into GSD-1, and confirm the account was not moved to a demand schedule after one unusual month.
GSD-1General Service Demand	Commercial accounts with demand above the GS-1 range and below 500 kW.	Rebuild billed kW from interval data, and test whether the time-of-use version, GSDT-1, would reduce cost for the site's load shape.
GSDT-1General Service Demand, Time of Use	GSD-1 eligible accounts that elect time-of-use pricing.	Check on-peak periods and seasonal definitions against interval data and confirm the election still saves money.
GSLD-1General Service Large Demand	Commercial and industrial accounts with demand from 500 kW to 1,999 kW.	Test billed demand against interval data and compare cost with the time-of-use version, GSLDT-1.

Schedule names and eligibility summarized from the utility's published tariff. The utility's current tariff book governs.

FPL questions

Under Florida Administrative Code Rule 25-6.106, the refund covers the period during which the overcharge occurred, based on available records.

Yes. The rule lets the customer choose between a bill credit and a one-time payment.

Yes. They are now billed under FPL's tariff, and we audit them the same way.

Audit your FPL accounts.

Connect bills for up to 50 meters. Get the findings report in about three weeks. Pay nothing unless money comes back.

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from bill access to first findings report: 21 daysfrom bill access to first findings report
of filed claims accepted by the utility in full or in part: 94%of filed claims accepted by the utility in full or in part