Florida Public Service Commission Grants Confidential Treatment to Tampa Electric Company

Strategic Insights -

The Florida Public Service Commission has granted Tampa Electric Company (TECO) confidentiality treatment for certain information related to the Root Cause analysis of an unplanned outage at one of its power plants. The Commission's order allows TECO to keep the information confidential for up to 18 months, citing Section 366.093(3)(e), Florida Statutes, which defines proprietary confidential business information as information that is intended to be and is treated by the company as private, in that disclosure of the information would cause harm to the company's ratepayers or business operations.

Key Takeaways:

  • The Florida Public Service Commission has granted Tampa Electric Company's request for confidential treatment of certain information related to the Root Cause analysis of an unplanned outage at one of its power plants.
  • The information in question includes highly technical details and specifications related to the outage, as well as communications between TECO and a third-party regarding technical fixes and best operational practices.
  • The Commission's order grants confidentiality treatment to the information for up to 18 months, citing Section 366.093(3)(e), Florida Statutes.
  • TECO argues that disclosure of the information would impair the competitive business of the provider of the information and jeopardize its relationship with the third-party.
  • The Commission has also granted TECO's motion for temporary protective order, protecting the information from disclosure during the discovery process.

Statistics:

  • 18 months: the duration for which the confidential information will remain protected from disclosure.
  • 1 power plant: the facility at which the unplanned outage occurred.
  • 1 third-party: the provider of the Root Cause analysis that TECO has kept confidential.

Sources:

  • Florida Public Service Commission. (2025). In re: Fuel and purchased power cost recovery clause with generating performance incentive factor. DOCKET NO. 20250001-EI ORDER NO. PSC-2025-0320-CFO-EI.
  • Florida Statutes, Section 366.093.
  • Florida Administrative Code, Rule 25-22.006.