Speaker: Andrew Smith
Say your name and where in Florida you live. How have high electricity bills impacted you? What are your concerns?
Andrew Smith: Dear FPL. In recent times, my family, like many others has been grappling with the escalating prices set by y'all. Every month. I open our utility bill. I met with a sense of dread. I see these numbers climb and they climb and they climb and it's not just about the money, it's about the principle. These rising costs are making it increasingly difficult for hardworking families to take care our kids of our lives of our house and against me, FPL's treatment of its customers feels unjust. There's no transparency. We're left in the dark. Literally. We, we got the lights cut out. Sometimes the internet cuts out and we're wondering why our bills have surged with the consumption. Seems about the same, nothing's changed. We use the same amount of electricity, but there's no reliability every summer, every day, every week. My energy cuts out. My internet cuts out when I need it. There's not even a storm. It doesn't make sense. We're paying more. Are we getting better service? No. Sadly, I wanna call and talk to about it. Mostly unresponsive. Don't really seem to care. It seems like a monopoly in this market and I feel like I feel y'all taking advantage of us, we have no choice but to comply. And I don't know if this is how you, between your customers. I hope you understand the principle behind what I'm telling you. I don't think it's fair. I don't think it's right. I think it's high time that you recognize the strain you're placing on families. We deserve fairness, we deserve transparency and most importantly respect. Thank you.
What do you want to say to the utility corporations responsible? What do you want Florida's politicians to do?
Andrew Smith: So when it comes to FPL, we kind of expect and we demand transparency like a clear breakdown of each bill and to understand why prices are rising just where our money is going. Reliability. If we're going to pay more, let's get better service. There's no more cutouts, brownouts, blackouts. And these things happen in the summer, every, every day of every week. I mean, if we're gonna pay, it's got to go for something right? Affordability. This, this energy isn't just a luxury, you know, it goes towards everyday real living, it's essential needs. Um And I think the prices reflect that accountability when mistakes are made, utility corporations should own up to them FPL showing up to it. Innovation. If we're gonna be paying more money, let's see, some new ideas, maybe invest in sustainable renewable energy. Let's try to get some more feedback into the grid. I don't know something, something that comes from. If we're gonna be paying more. Let's see something for it. As far as politicians go, politicians, please regulate and monitor utility companies like FPL make sure they're not exploiting their monopoly set price caps if necessary or let's promote some competition. Let's get some new players in there and break up the monopoly that way because competition will lead to better services and affordable prices. Listen to the people, politicians, we're telling you how we're suffering and please represent us and our concerns and fight for your constituents. Finally invest in the infrastructure. You know, we need to modernize, modernize the utility in the face of climate concerns, energy concerns. We can improve on this stuff, We can get better for ourselves and our Children and our children's Children. Thank you.
