The Legislature moved closer Tuesday to giving Florida’s largest investor-owned utilities the power to raise rates as they gain ground in the state’s renewable-energy sector.

Despite fears of imposing a new fee upon Florida taxpayers and putting smaller energy producers at a disadvantage, the House voted 83-34 to give the utilities the power to raise rates to fund renewable-energy projects.

The bill, HB 7229, allows the state’s investor-owned utilities to raise rates by as much as $376 million over three years without going through the rate hike approval process of the Florida Public Service Commission. It now moves to the Senate floor, to the concern of some.

“It’s a start, but I don’t think we’re to have a long-term, sustainable, renewable energy industry” from this bill, said Michael Dobson, president of the Florida Renewable Energy Producers Association.  

In the scaled-back bill, the state’s four largest investor-owned utilities, which include Florida Power & Light, would be able to recoup the costs of renewable energy projects by raising rates by 2 percent this year, 1 more percent next year and 1 more percent the year after that.  Investor-owned utilities would not have to have the PSC approve rate hikes for renewable-energy projects or new solar power plants anymore.

"Based on our estimates, HB 7229 would cost utility customers less than an average of a dollar a month over the life of the projects (30 years) to pay for the construction if the maximum generation allowed were to be built in the next few years," said FPL spokeswoman Jackie Anderson in an e-mail. "For FPL, we estimate that the cost would be no more than $1 to $3 a month in the first few years and average out to less than 50 cents a month over the life of the projects."

Proponents say the bill advances the state’s renewable-energy resources and that the state needs to make some sacrifices to get rewards.

“You can’t have renewable, clean energy without expecting it to come with a cost,” said Rep. Baxter Troutman, R-Winter Haven.

But opponents say the bill favors Big Power over independent energy producers, is costly and doesn’t change much.

In a lengthy debate on the House floor, Democratic and Republican supporters of HB 7229, sponsored by Orlando Republican Stephen Precourt, defended the measure from opponents who questioned the wisdom of permitting rate increases in troubled economic times.

Rep. Julio Robaina, R-Miami, said the cost to taxpayers was too great.

"You need to vote this down," he said.

The debate grew intense, and Precourt originally postponed the vote on the bill. He later called for a vote, prompting a quorum call and the return of several representatives onto the floor.

Rep. Joe Gibbons, D-Hallandale Beach, said the bill could do more to give independent businesses incentives to produce renewable energy, but he urged representatives to support the bill as a good start.

“There was something done,” he said after the vote. “We could have done more.”

Even with the amendments, the bill does not do enough to change the hold the state’s major investor-owned utilities have on renewable-energy development, said FREPA President Dobson. There are not enough measures for independent producers, and the bill eliminates Renewable Energy Portfolio Standards, which require a specific percentage of renewable energy from independent producers.

“I don’t think that we should pass this bill under the illusion that we created a renewable energy industry in the state of Florida,” he said.