The disclosure and our analysis
Evidence dates
Evidence: Tampa Electric Company petition and proposed tariff sheets filed September 30, 2026; Florida PSC staff recommendation dated October 22, 2026; Commission vote sheet and Order No. PSC-2026-0399-PCO-EI, both dated November 3, 2026. Reviewed November 11, 2026.
What Tampa Electric filed
Florida's large load customer law, Section 366.043, Florida Statutes, required public utilities to file compliant tariffs by October 1, 2026. It defines a large load customer as one with an anticipated monthly peak load of 50 MW or more at a single location, and bars splitting a load into smaller connections to avoid the class. Tampa Electric filed its petition on September 30, 2026. It proposes two rate schedules, LLCS-1 and LLCS-2, a standard Large Load Customer Contract (LLCC) and related tariff changes. [Source 1]
LLCS-1 would cover the first gigawatt of large load demand. Tampa Electric says its rates recover the cost of 600 MW of energy storage, 600 MW of new generating capacity from its planned modernization of Big Bend Unit 4, and transmission to connect them, plus a share of average system costs. The schedule closes when the 1 GW cap is fully subscribed or on January 1, 2031, whichever comes first. Demand above the first gigawatt would go to LLCS-2, which uses a formula to recover the cost of the generation, storage and transmission built for those customers. The filing publishes no fixed LLCS-2 rates. Service is at transmission voltage of 69 kV or higher. [Source 1]
The LLCS-1 rates as filed
The proposed LLCS-1 tariff (Original Sheet Nos. 6.855 and 6.860) lists these charges. [Source 1]
Basic Service Charge: $126.72 per day. Demand Charge: $4.78 per kW, applied to the greatest of Contracted Capacity Demand, Billing Demand, or 90% of the highest Billing Demand in the previous 11 months. Energy Charge: 0.223 cents per kWh.
Incremental Generation Charge: $18.98 per kW, on the same greatest-of basis. The tariff says this rate stays unchanged during the LLCC Initial Term. Incremental Transmission Charge: $2.33 per kW of Contracted Capacity Demand, an indicative rate subject to true-up to actual costs.
Incremental Fuel Transportation Charge: none in 2028 through 2030, $2.09 per kW in 2031 and $6.16 per kW in 2032 through 2047, subject to true-up. Incremental PPA Charge: $17.10 per kW in 2028, $11.13 in 2029, $7.72 in 2030, $3.74 in 2031, $1.60 in 2032 and none from 2033, subject to true-up.
The minimum monthly bill is the sum of the basic service, demand, incremental generation, transmission, fuel transportation and PPA charges, plus other generally applicable charges. Usage charges apply on top. The basic service, demand and energy charges are marked as subject to change in later rate proceedings. Billing Demand is the highest 30-minute kW demand in the billing period. A load ramp period of up to five years can be agreed in the contract. [Source 1]
Contract term, security and exit
The term of service is at least 20 years from the in-service date, including the ramp period. Customers must give three years' notice to end service at the end of the term. Leaving early, or failing to give that notice, triggers a Termination Fee equal to the net present value of the incremental generation, transmission, fuel transportation and PPA charges for the rest of the initial term. [Source 1]
Security under the LLCC is $2.0 million multiplied by the MW of Contracted Capacity Demand for a customer without an investment grade credit rating. A customer with an investment grade rating, or one using a protective insurance product, posts 50% of that amount, or $1.0 million per MW. Before service, a customer must also pay for system studies, accept their results, pay any contribution in aid of construction, sign an affidavit of ownership under the law's foreign entity rule, and execute the LLCC. The tariff also covers entities that meter into a colocation or similar agreement at a single location that meets the 50 MW threshold. [Source 1]
Status
As of November 3, 2026: Proposed. Commission staff recommended on October 22 that the tariffs be suspended so staff could review the petition, citing an 11/30/26 60-day suspension date. On November 3 the Commission approved that recommendation, with no dissent recorded on the vote sheet, and kept the docket open. Order No. PSC-2026-0399-PCO-EI, issued the same day, sets a hearing for March 30 to April 2, 2027. Intervenor testimony is due January 28, 2027, Tampa Electric's rebuttal February 15, 2027, and the prehearing conference is March 16, 2027. No rate in this article is approved. [Source 2] [Source 3] [Source 4]
Buyer and operator analysis
This is our analysis, from the filed rates only. Adding the per kW charges that make up the minimum bill (demand, incremental generation, transmission, fuel transportation and PPA) gives about $43.19 per kW a month in 2028, $33.85 in 2032 and $32.25 from 2033. At 1 MW of contracted demand, that is about $32,250 to $43,190 a month, or roughly $387,000 to $518,000 a year, before the basic service charge, energy, fuel and clause charges and any true-ups. Most of it is owed whether or not the load shows up, because the charges bill against contracted demand or a 90% ratchet.
The security term is the bigger up-front number. For a 100 MW project without an investment grade rating, $2.0 million per MW means $200 million of security before service. That cost sits with the developer, and in a colocation deal it can flow into rent, a tenant guarantee or a credit requirement.
For colocation buyers in the Tampa Bay area, the practical point is timing. The tariff is not in effect, a hearing is set for spring 2027, and the LLCS-1 rates rest on new generation and storage that Tampa Electric plans to build. A provider quoting new capacity above 50 MW in Tampa Electric's territory should be able to say which schedule the site expects, whether it has signed an LLCC, and who is posting the security. A smaller deployment inside an existing facility is not itself a large load customer; the 50 MW test applies to the load at a single location.
