FL S0126

Expands the Florida Public Service Commission from five to seven commissioners, requiring one member be a certified public accountant and one a chartered financial analyst

Requires any group of parties to a PSC proceeding to negotiate settlement terms in good faith with the Public Counsel before presenting a settlement to the commission, and prohibits the commission from approving settlements where this negotiation did not occur

Adds "affordable" as a required standard alongside "fair, just, and reasonable" when the commission fixes utility rates, and mandates the commission consider affordability in any proceeding that could impact utility rates

Creates a scheduled process for public utility return-on-equity (ROE) change requests, requires financial models used by the commission to be financially logical and generally accepted by finance practitioners, and requires the commission to account for risk reductions provided by existing cost-recovery mechanisms (e.g., storm recovery, environmental cost recovery, nuclear plant financing)

Establishes an interim storm-recovery cost charge mechanism allowing electric utilities to begin recovering estimated storm costs within 60 days of filing a petition, subject to true-up and refund provisions, and requires the commission to submit an annual report to the Governor and Legislature by March 1 analyzing rate changes, ROE models, and executive compensation of public utilities