HB 1321 - Water and Wastewater Utilities

• Customers may petition the Florida Public Service Commission to revoke a water or wastewater utility's certificate of authorization if at least 65 percent of customers sign the petition after filing a notice of intent, with the Commission evaluating whether revocation serves customers' best interests.

• Utilities facing a petition must respond to service quality issues and may not file for rate cases while a petition docket is open; the Commission may place certificates on probationary status, require benchmarks within 3 years, or revoke the certificate.

• The Commission must consider water and wastewater service quality when setting rates, evaluating compliance with secondary standards for taste, odor, color, corrosiveness, noise, aerosol drift, and lighting based on customer complaints and test results from the past 5 years.

• If a utility fails to meet quality standards, it must meet with customers to discuss costs and benefits of solutions, and the Commission may require implementation of solutions with the utility recovering authorized costs.

• The Commission may impose penalties including fines, reduced return on equity up to 100 basis points, denial of rate increases, or certificate cancellation for failure to resolve quality issues; the Department of Environmental Protection must establish secondary wastewater service standards.