www.thecentersquare.com – By Steve Wilson | The Center Square – (The Center Square – ) 2025-07-17 14:00:00
Florida’s Public Service Commission held a final hearing on Peoples Gas System’s proposed $103.6 million rate hike, which would raise monthly bills by up to 45% for some residential users starting January 1. No public comments were made during hearings, but emails opposing the hike continue to pour in. Critics argue the increase is excessive and unfairly burdens current customers with infrastructure expansion costs. Peoples Gas, a Tampa Electric subsidiary, says the hike is needed to sustain service and provide an 11.1% investor return amid rising expenses. The company serves 470,000 customers in 39 Florida counties.
(The Center Square) – The Florida Public Service Commission held the final of two public hearings on Thursday concerning a request by the state’s largest natural gas company to increase its rates for customers.
In both hearings, there was no feedback from ratepayers, but emails opposing the rate hike continue to populate the rate case docket.
For a Peoples Gas System residential customer using up to 99 therms (a heat energy measure equivalent to 100,000 British Thermal Units) per month, their bill would increase from $19.10 to $26.50 (38.5%) if the commission approves the increase. For those using 100 to 1,999 therms, their cost would increase from $24.44 to $35.50 per month (45%).
The rate hike would go into effect on Jan. 1. The commission last approved a rate hike for the utility in 2023.
Peoples Gas System wants a nearly $103.6 million rate hike, justifying the increase because “existing base rates would not be sufficient to cover the company’s costs of service and provide an adequate return on invested capital.”
As with other regulated monopolies, Peoples Gas is guaranteed a rate of return for its investors on its capital investments.
Peoples said in its filing that it needed a rate of return of 11.1% and, without a rate hike, it would receive 9.15% this year and 5.7% in 2026. It also said it will spend $800 million on improving its infrastructure as its customer base continues to grow.
Despite a lack of customers providing input at the hearings in Hollywood and Orlando, ratepayers aren’t happy about the proposed rate hike.
“I believe Teco’s proposed rate change for their RS-2 rate class is an outrageous request that would result in a 45% increase in their fee,” Richard Veraszto told the commission in an email. “I understand they are subjected to inflationary costs but to ask for that amount of an increase is not reasonable and should be denied.”
A Fort Myers customer also shared his concerns via email.
“They just raised their Customer Charge (base rates) significantly in the last couple of years to where a residential base rate is now more than 50% of the total bill,” Andy Koebel wrote in an email to the commission. “Now they want to increase it by almost another 25%. One of the reasons they state the need for this increase is that they have expanded their network by adding 1,260 miles of mains and service lines to service demand. I also work in the utility industry and expansion of service is not to be borne by the existing ratepayers.
“That cost should be covered by connection fees/impact fees paid by developers or new connections if they want service. For this reason, the proposed increase in the Customer Charge to help with expansion associated costs should be denied by the PSC or significantly reduced.”
Koebel also took objection to the proposal by Peoples to combine two of the four rate classes, which he said would adversely affect customers using around 25 to 50 therms per month.
Peoples Gas System is a subsidiary of Tampa Electric and serves 470,000 residential, commercial, industrial and power generation customers across 39 of Florida’s 67 counties, including five metropolitan areas.
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Centrist
The article presents a straightforward report on the proposed natural gas rate increase requested by Peoples Gas System. It provides detailed factual information, including specific percentage increases, the company’s justification, and customer responses, without expressing editorial opinions or using emotive language that favors one side. The inclusion of direct quotes from customers opposing the increase and the utility’s own filings demonstrates balanced reporting on the positions of the involved parties. There is no evidence of the article promoting an ideological stance or framing the issue through a partisan lens; rather, it maintains a neutral tone focused on informing readers about the issue and the differing perspectives surrounding it.
SUMMARY: Congressman Cory Mills faces a Columbia County court hearing after harassment allegations from ex-girlfriend Lindsey Langston, Miss United States and local GOP committeewoman. Langston, 25, filed for a restraining order, reporting threats from Mills, including releasing nude images and videos since their 2021 breakup. The couple lived together until Langston left following assault accusations from another woman against Mills, later withdrawn. Mills denies wrongdoing, with his attorney questioning the evidence’s validity. Langston is represented by attorney and commissioner Anthony Sabatini, who lost to Mills in the 2022 GOP primary and calls for Mills’ resignation or expulsion. The hearing is at 9:30 a.m. in Columbia County.
Florida university faculty express deep concerns over state policies impacting tenure, academic freedom, and diversity initiatives. A recent American Association of University Professors survey found 31% of Florida faculty have sought or plan to seek jobs out of state, driven by political interference, funding cuts, and restrictive educational mandates. Faculty report self-censorship, anxiety, and curriculum scrutiny due to laws banning “indoctrinating concepts” and the elimination of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. Tenured professors face post-tenure reviews and fear ideological repression. Over 70% would advise against academic careers in Florida, citing a stifled environment that hinders teaching and research quality.
Citing state policy on tenure, elimination of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, and the cost of living, Florida faculty laid out their frustrations in a recent survey.
In a Faculty in the South survey conducted by various conferences of the American Association of University Professors, 31% of Florida respondents said they have applied for a job outside of Florida since 2023. That number was 25% among all survey respondents in the South.
The same, 31% of Florida respondents, said they plan to seek employment in another state during the next hiring cycle.
“The governor of Florida threatens at every turn to take funding away so administration at colleges don’t stand up to him or board of education. I no longer have any motivation or creativity to make courses better,” a tenured professor at a public community college wrote.
The survey focused on policy affecting employment, including whether faculty would recommend working in their state to up-and-coming academics, and trends in applications for faculty positions. It included nearly 200 responses from Florida faculty among its nearly 4,000 responses across Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia.
The survey concluded with an open-ended question asking faculty to provide examples of how “attacks on higher education are directly impacting your work.” It did not report respondents’ identities beyond basic demographics like gender, race, tenure status, years of experience, and type of institution they teach at.
‘Walking on egg shells’
“Students report any classroom discussion they don’t like directly to the Governor’s office. Everyone is afraid all the time,” one woman teaching at a public four-year school wrote. “I have stopped teaching books that might be in any way controversial. I don’t open up general discussion in class but ask only direct questions that will elicit non-controversial answers. I need health insurance so I can’t just quit.”
The state scanning course materials for disfavored viewpoints was a widespread stressor for many faculty.
“Most of the courses I’ve taught for decades now violate state and university mandates,” a man teaching at a Florida tier-one research university said.
As of earlier this year, Florida institutions’ general education courses no longer contained “indoctrinating concepts,” State University System Chancellor Ray Rodrigues proclaimed in January.
Florida universities have conducted a review, required by a 2022 law, of general education courses to ensure that they do not “distort significant historical events or include a curriculum that teaches identity politics.”
“I’m continually worried that the content of my clases [sic] will be flagged as “DEI” because I am a historian of the Caribbean, a region mostly populated by non-white people,” one professor said.
One women’s studies professor described the effect as “Constant anxiety, walking on egg shells trying to anticipate what would be used against me/us.”
More than a third, 34%, of Florida respondents said administrators have questioned syllabi or curricula choices for their courses. Among all states surveyed, half as many, 17%, indicated administrators questioned their curricula.
One professor said that since the state and federal government have made illegal “a wide range of Constitutionally protected components of speech and expression,” “I must break the law in order to tell the truth. Because I’m hired to tell the truth, and because I’m much more committed to the truth than to the law, I break the law. This means I am expecting to be arrested in front of a classroom any day, for actions that are illegal only as a result of the right-wing fad of the most recent decade.”
Nearly three in four, 71%, of faculty in Florida who were surveyed said they would not encourage a graduate student to seek employment in Florida.
“I am going to take early retirement despite a great job and salary. The threats are real and I am exhausted, between fighting this and fighting AI and poorly prepared, lazy, unethical students,” a tenured professor at a four-year public university wrote.
Higher education funding cuts have been the subject of nationwide political debate, including Florida State University reporting that it lost $100 million in federal grants, although $83 million of that has since been reinstated, the school’s president said last week.
About one-in-10, 11%, said they have had a federal contract ended by the Trump administration.
“The loss of vital federal grants has removed opportunities from me and my colleagues,” one professor wrote. “Attacks on LGBTQ students, immigrants, and diversity have also made it difficult to recruit promising graduate students or to guarantee their health and safety. Florida colleges being forced to remove diversity languages has destroyed years of valuable work, overturned an incredible general education curriculum, taken power and governance away from faculty, and wasted a lot of valuable time.”
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Tenure troubles
Since 2023, professors in Florida with tenure have been subject to post-tenure review, graded on standards crafted by university trustees relating to research performance, teaching, service, and compliance with state laws and university policies.
Of the nearly-one-third who recently applied for an out-of-state job, tenure and DEI issues, academic freedom, the political climate, and cost of living were among the most common concerns.
Respondents said the number of applications for coworkers’ positions, as well as the quality of applicants, have decreased.
“Our department is trying to improve, but we have had several failed searches in recent years because candidates don’t want to move to Florida because of the broad political climate and the fact that tenure protections functionally no longer exist here,” a tenured public university professor said.
Some faculty said they have not experienced problems with “attacks on higher education,” one stating, “I haven’t felt any — Florida is great!.” Another said, “They’re not, and freedom in the classroom still persists, and I am at a public university in… wait for it… FLORIDA…”
“I find that I’m having to spend more time explaining to students why they need to use evidence to support their views and why clear arguments are important,” a professor at a private institution wrote.
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One professor complained that “our board of trustees stacked with heritage foundation members, our president was forced out and replaced by a republican politician.” Course materials face heightened scrutiny, this professor added.
“The climate of persecution, retaliation, and ideological imposition makes it impossible to teach my discipline accurately or well without opening oneself to disciplinary measures,” that professor said. “While New College got a lot of headlines, similar invasions of public universities are happening with no national press, leaving those of us who work here isolated and vulnerable to attack.”
Gov. Ron DeSantis orchestrated a shake-up of the University of West Florida Board of Trustees in a more conservative light earlier this year and that institution is now led by a former GOP lawmaker.
Results for the survey were collected throughout August and more than 60% of respondents said they are tenured. Last year’s iteration of the survey featured responses from about 350 Florida professors.
“There is a lower threshold of critical thinking because everyone is fearful about what is ‘allowed’ vs. ‘banned’ by law. The fear and the self-censorship is widespread. Our administration, now saddled with a governor-imposed, unqualified hire as a President, is understandably more cautious rather than vocal about protecting academic freedom,” one professor wrote.
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Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com.
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Left-Leaning
The content highlights concerns from Florida faculty about state policies perceived as restrictive to academic freedom, particularly regarding tenure, diversity initiatives, and curriculum oversight. It presents critical perspectives on actions taken by conservative state leadership, emphasizing the negative impact on educators and higher education. The tone and focus suggest a left-leaning bias, as it centers on critiques of right-leaning policies and their consequences for academic environments.
SUMMARY: With three days until their season opener on the road against Indianapolis, the Miami Dolphins continue intense preparations. Defensive focus centers on a largely new secondary, featuring up to five new starters, including second-year cornerback Storm Duck, who has risen from undrafted status to starting lineup. Duck expresses excitement and commitment to consistency and playing with enjoyment, crediting elite receivers Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle for pushing him and the team to improve during training camp. Defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver emphasizes the importance of young players playing fast under internal pressure, reflecting the high expectations placed on this pivotal, make-or-break season for head coach Mike McDaniel.
CBS News Miami’s Mike Cugno reports on what the Dolphins need to do as they near their season opener against the Colts.
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