Leading Florida power provider blasts solar/wind subsidies
Jacob Williams, CEO of Florida Municipal Power, speaks the truth about solar and wind subsidies: they are a disaster the Senate needs to terminate
Senators are being mobbed by lobbyists who say solar and wind subsidies have been great for America—and that it was wrong for the House to cut them off for new projects.
Thankfully, a genuine electricity expert has spoken up to tell the truth: these subsidies are a disaster the Senate needs to terminate.
The expert is Jacob Williams, CEO of Florida Municipal Power—which serves 3 million Floridians. Unlike many executives in the electricity world, who make a fortune off subsidies, Jacob’s job is to keep electricity cheap and reliable.
Here is his letter, in full. (PDF here)
June 2, 2025
Dear Chairman Lee:
On behalf of Florida Municipal Power Agency’s (FMPA) 13 retail municipal utilities and the communities they serve through FMPA’s All-Requirements Power Supply Project, I am writing to express our support for the recently passed House budget-reconciliation bill, H.R. 1, specifically its energy-tax provisions. This legislation is critical to keeping electricity reliable and affordable in the United States. Most importantly for consumers, it ends the Inflation Reduction Act’s ITC and PTC tax credits that incentivize new, unreliable, higher-cost solar and wind generation—putting existing reliable, lower-cost natural-gas, nuclear and coal generation at economic and operational peril.
At a time when electric demand is rising rapidly because of data-center and AI growth, today’s reliable and affordable natural-gas, nuclear and coal resources are essential for meeting increasing energy needs without harming cost or reliability. Providing reliable, affordable power is FMPA’s daily mission. We own 2,100 MW of generation that supplies low-cost, reliable electricity to hundreds of thousands of customers; together with the larger Florida public-power community, we serve more than three million Floridians—about 14 percent of the state’s population.
Ending the IRA’s ITC credits for new, higher-cost solar in Florida is the right move. Federally subsidized solar additions are shifting Florida’s summer “net peak” demand from 4–7 p.m. to 7–9 p.m., when solar output falls to zero, forcing natural-gas, nuclear and coal plants to meet the load alone. Florida’s current mix is 77 percent natural gas, 10 percent nuclear, 5 percent coal and 8 percent solar, but ten-year site plans suggest solar could reach 30 percent by 2033—exacerbating peak-shift problems and leaving solar unable to contribute when it’s needed most. The issue is even clearer in winter, when demand peaks at sunrise and sunset; despite our “Sunshine State” nickname, solar averages only 27 percent annual availability versus 80–90 percent for conventional generation.
Reliability must go hand in hand with affordability—especially in a state with many fixed-income retirees. Florida families use twice as much electricity as households in California or the Northeast due to heat and humidity. While FMPA’s members currently obtain 3 percent of their energy from solar at $30–35/MWh, new solar projects have risen to over $50/MWh in Florida since the IRA’s passage—far above the $20–35/MWh operating cost of our existing natural-gas fleet, which supplies 82 percent of our energy. We have therefore rejected additional solar projects to protect our low- and fixed-income customers. Municipal-utility residential rates have risen only 12 percent since 2017, the lowest in the state; other Florida utilities, with about 9 percent solar, have seen a 25 percent increase. Trading reliable, affordable generation for intermittent, higher-cost resources hurts consumers and hinders prosperity.
As the Senate develops its own reconciliation bill, we applaud your scrutiny of IRA ITC and PTC credits and other subsidies for unreliable solar and wind, versus the reliable and affordable natural-gas, nuclear and coal resources the nation urgently needs—particularly to power emerging high-tech data centers and AI applications.
If you have questions or need additional information, please feel free to contact us.
Sincerely,
Jacob A. Williams
General Manager and CEO
Florida Municipal Power Agency
cc: Senator Rick Scott (FL); Senator Ashley Moody (FL)
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If you ever want to silence an advocate of "low cost" wind and solar, just ask them if they can name one area, state or country where the large-scale introduction of renewables to replace traditional thermal generation has decreased per unit electricity costs to consumers or increased grid reliability. That sound you hear will be the crickets. And yes, they do tend to get mad when you ask them and usually resort to ad hominin attacks regarding to your desire to destroy the planet which is all utter bunk.
A truth teller amongst the many green schemers! Bravo just say no to unreliable and expensive renewables! Embrace reliable traditional sources of electricity generation! Physics and fiscal responsibility needs to be made great again!