Just to recapitulate, I got solar panels in about August, 2019. My bill drifted down (as it would have in part for seasonal reasons anyway), and it hit $9.99 a month for two months. It then inexplicably increased to $10.05 a month, and it stayed there, every month, all year, for about two years. Early this year (2022), it started to destabilize, so that one month, I got a rebate of a little over $30 (I assumed they had a minimum monthly bill, so no one could go without being billed, no matter how little electricity they used, or how much they produced. So it was unclear why I was getting a rebate.) The fact is that I always produce more than I use, but I get a small bill anyway. But it's a small bill, and FPL is desperately trying to hang on to income, so I don't worry about it.
But two months ago, I got a bill for $30.17. That's two cents more than triple my "minimum" monthly bill. So I called. I got some meaningless song and dance from the agent (actual people are very hard to find in the FPL system), and it included some sketchy interpretation that my bill wasn't really triple the normal bill. I couldn't get this poor fellow to explain to me how $30.17 wasn't almost exactly triple of $10.05. He was dancing as fast as he could, and reading whatever script he was given to read, and I just wasn't going to make any progress with this pathetic attempted conversation. But the e-mail I got letting me know about my upcoming bill did suggest that I could lower my bill to just over $17 (instead of $30.17) by signing up for the "Budget Billing" program. The poor dope to whom I was talking couldn't exactly explain that, either, but I figured that $17+ was better than $30.17, so I agreed to be switched to this program. And this new endeavor on FPL's part included that if I used little enough, my bill would be $25. So at some point in this scheme, the less electricity you use, the more they bill you for it.
I just got the warning e-mail for the upcoming bill, and it's $20.25. I had figured that the "good news" was that my bill would now be $17+ every month, but this one creeped up. The fact is that I produce more than I use every day, and the daily estimate from FPL was always 36 cents, which is about $10.05 a month.
It took me a long time to find a real person again, but eventually, I did. I didn't say too much before this woman said that maybe the "Budget Billing" program wasn't right for me. She seemed a lot smarter and level-headed than the first guy a month before, so I could have an actual conversation with her.
The sneaky/skanky program of the higher minimum bill (especially if you don't use too much electricity) is still FPL's new normal, but she also told me that the "Budget Billing" program is intended to prevent the summer high bills and the winter low bills, so people can pay a more or less similar amount every month. But it's not the same amount, as the monthly estimate is not fixed for a year, but it "rolls" somehow. And if someone has unpredicted usage, they're eventually going to get a bill that will make up the deficit. So since my usage is low, and I can afford my electric bills, this woman and I decided I should cancel being in the "Budget Billing" program.
I also, of course, treated myself to a bit of a very frustrated rant, during which I said that I understood that FPL needed income, and wanted to stay in business, but it accomplished this by picking the pockets of people like me. I said again that I can afford it, but it's just that I resent it. And I said that I realize FPL will say the PSC gives it permission to bill people (like me) this way, but that the PSC is directed by the electeds, and the electeds are purchased by donors like FPL.
It was at this point that this woman told me I'm a smart man, which I don't consider particularly or uniquely true, but I did take her to mean that I had a very clear understanding of how the system works, and why it works that way.
When I see the resistance to transitioning from fossil fuels to renewable sources of energy, including the complaint that people will lose jobs, I imagine the time that common transportation changed from horses to cars. I wonder how many people connected to the horse industry railed against this change, and the fact that they know how to breed, train, care for, and shoe horses, but they don't know how to repair cars. As if it was all so unfair to them.
The difference now is that people who drive cars that burn gas or diesel, or buy electricity from FPL, have no choice but to burn something. But FPL does have a choice. It is not limited to burning stuff. FPL can create electricity the same way I do, if they want to. And if they choose not to do it, why is that everyone else's problem?
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