An extraordinary woman - Alexandria Larson

Alexandria Larson

If you attend Palm Beach County Commission meetings, you will see Alexandria Larson giving them hell. She is fearless and afraid of no one-- she is committed. I saw her stand up to Tony Masilotti and crusty Burt Aaronson, defending causes and issues detrimental to the County and its citizens. She has been involved in various legal suits in the last decade since she has become a watchdog of the environment. Not only is she an environmentalist but she describes herself as a "preservationist" who cares about costs.

She is also a member of The Palm Beach County Environmental Coalition that opposed FPL's proposed $1.6 billion 280-mile fossil fuel (gas) pipeline across Florida, as well as the proposed $1.3 billion rate increase back in 2009-2010.  FPL was granted $75 million. The 2010 settlement that froze the base rate until 2013 has now expired. Therefore, FPL is looking for a huge rate increase once again. FPL's stock price continues to soar.

Today Alexandria is in the news again, this time as an Intervenor trying to block FPL's proposed rate hike of $690.4 million that she feels is excessive and bloated. She also accused the settlement agreement as a "backdoor" deal.

With 11,000 employees across the State, FPL promotes itself as committed to the communities they serve through United Way, their Care program that encourages their employees to volunteer in the community, home energy makeovers as well as energy education initiatives--it is a good partner they say.

It also generates enough renewable energy to serve a load equivalent to three cities of comparable size to Lake Worth and states it's the U.S. leader in renewable generation. It serves 9 million households in 35 counties and has a desire to tailor a "power supply arrangement that provides value and stability" to Lake Worth. They are asking for the equivalent of a $7.09 base rate monthly increase that would still be $27.16 less than what Lake Worth is now paying. But we still have to have $9 to 10 million from our utility revenues to operate our city.

And Alexandria Larson continues to hold FPL accountable for proposed hikes in utility rates for more fossil fuel infrastructure and high-level executive pay increases.