Report Finds Orlando Utilities Commission Losing Ground to Florida Power and Light

ORLANDO, FL -- Orlando Utilities Commission (OUC) receives a lower numerical score while maintaining its “B” rating, according to the Sierra Club’s 2023 Dirty Truth Report released today. OUC is missing the mark in the report for continuing to include investments in fossil resources while the federal government incentivizes increasing renewable resource investments.

“Mayor Dyer and the City of Orlando commission unanimously voted to make Orlando a letter A city five years ago, but OUC keeps on falling behind and dropping in score by not keeping that commitment. OUC can put the ‘A’ in the IRA by leveraging federal funding to increase clean energy in Mayor Dyer's City Beautiful," said Thalia Su, East Orlando Resident and Sierra Club Beyond Coal Volunteer.

Although clean energy is less expensive than 99 percent of existing coal and new gas generation, only 20 of the 77 utilities have plans to be entirely coal-free by 2030. Combined, these 77 utilities are planning to build 53 gigawatts of new gas plants through 2030, nearly 40 percent more than was planned last year.

Under the leadership of the OUC Board, which is appointed by and includes Mayor Buddy Dyer, OUC’s grade slips while juggernaut Florida Power and Light (FPL) continues to move forward with significant amounts of renewable energy projects breaking ground. FPL overtook OUC in numerical scoring for the first time since The Dirty Truth Report started rating utilities’ decarbonization plans three years ago.

Since the passage of President Biden's Inflation Reduction Act, only 30 utilities featured in the report have filed updated planning documents, and they received a score of 27/100, just one point higher than the average for all utilities. If utilities fully utilize the incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act, they could save households hundreds of dollars in annual energy costs, create good-paying jobs, and reduce climate pollution for all communities. 

The Sierra Club’s annual Dirty Truth Report analyzes the plans of 77 utilities owned by 50 parent companies and assigns scores and grades to the utilities based on three criteria: plans to retire polluting coal plants, whether they plan to build new gas power plants, and the scale of their investment in clean energy through 2030. In an interactive webpage, users can see their utility’s score and what progress–if any–the utility has made toward transitioning to cleaner, more affordable energy.