The Nokovich
Blog

Most Floridians don't think twice about who provides their electricity. They get their Florida Power & Light bill, they pay it, and they move on. There's no debate. There's no choice. There's no competition.

That's not a free market. That's a monopoly dressed up in regulatory clothing.

Daniel Nokovich wants to change that — and here's what it could actually look like.

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The Problem Nobody's Talking About

Florida Power & Light (FPL) serves roughly 5.8 million customer accounts across the state. In many of those areas, you simply don't have another option. You take what you get, you pay what they charge, and if rates go up — which they do — your only move is to complain to a utility commission that was largely built to protect the utility, not the customer.

This isn't how free markets are supposed to work. And it's not what the founders of this country had in mind when they built a system rooted in the idea that competition protects the people.

Here's what Dan believes: when you give people choices, prices come down, quality goes up, and innovation follows. That's not a political theory — it's how every healthy marketplace works.

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What Private Sector Energy Competition Actually Looks Like

Several states have already moved toward deregulated energy markets. In a competitive energy environment, residents and businesses can choose their electricity provider the same way they choose their internet or phone service. The power still flows through the same lines — the infrastructure doesn't change — but who generates and sells you that electricity becomes an open market.

What this means in practice:

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  Lower rates over time. When suppliers compete for your business, they have a reason to keep costs down. FPL has no such pressure. They set rates, submit them for approval, and the commission typically signs off. That's not accountability — that's a system protecting itself.
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  Innovation in clean and alternative energy. Right now, private solar companies, micro-grid developers, and alternative energy providers are constantly working around utility monopoly laws just to exist. Open the market and you open the door to real innovation — not the kind that happens in a boardroom of one company, but the kind that happens when hundreds of entrepreneurs are competing to serve you better.
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  Local and small business energy providers. Deregulation creates space for Florida-based energy companies to grow. That means Florida jobs, Florida investment, and energy profits staying in Florida communities rather than funneling up to a corporation's shareholders.

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The Water Question Nobody's Asking Either

The same principle applies to water.

Dan's notes reference reintroducing autonomous property wells — and that idea cuts to something real. Right now, in many Florida counties, accessing your own groundwater on your own property is either heavily restricted or effectively prohibited. You are required to connect to a municipal or utility-run water supply and pay whatever rate they set.

This is government-mandated dependency on a single source for one of the most essential resources in human life.

A private sector water framework could include:

• ▸ Licensed private water suppliers who compete on price, purity, and service. The same way you can buy bottled water from a hundred different brands, communities should have access to more than one water provider.
• ▸ Reinstatement of private well rights for property owners who meet basic safety standards, verified through a sheriff-administered inspection rather than a bureaucratic permitting process designed to funnel everyone back to the utility.
• ▸ Water quality accountability boards made up of doctors, farmers, homesteaders, and community members — not utility lobbyists — who set and enforce standards independent of the corporations that profit from the current system.

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"Florida Profits Divided Between Resident Shareholders and Government"

This is one of the most striking ideas buried in Dan's platform notes — and it deserves a full explanation.

His vision for transportation includes a publicly-owned rail system where profits are divided between resident shareholders and the state government. The same logic could apply to energy and water infrastructure.

Here's the model:

The physical infrastructure — the power lines, the water mains, the treatment facilities — could be owned collectively by Florida residents through a resident-shareholder structure. Private companies compete to operate on that infrastructure and serve customers. The profits generated flow back to Floridians as dividends rather than to corporate executives or out-of-state investors.

This isn't socialism. It's the opposite. It's using free-market competition to generate wealth that stays in Florida and flows back to the people whose lives depend on the system working well.

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Why This Is a Moral and a Practical Issue

Dan's platform is built on a foundation that government exists to serve the people, not the other way around. A system that forces you to buy from a single energy or water provider — with no alternative, no competition, and no real recourse — is a system that has forgotten who it answers to.

This isn't just about lowering your electric bill (though that matters). It's about:

• • Restoring genuine freedom — the freedom to choose who you do business with
• • Protecting families from rate increases imposed by companies that face no market pressure
• • Building a more resilient state — because a system with multiple providers is far harder to take down by storm, cyberattack, or corporate mismanagement than one that routes everything through a single utility
• • Returning trust to the people — because when your community controls its energy and water, outside powers have a much harder time controlling your community

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What Dan Would Do

In practical terms, a Nokovich administration would pursue:

• ✓ Energy deregulation legislation that opens the retail electricity market to licensed private suppliers while maintaining state oversight of infrastructure safety
• ✓ Private well rights restoration for Florida property owners meeting basic safety certifications
• ✓ A competitive water supplier licensing framework allowing vetted private companies to compete in markets currently monopolized by utilities
• ✓ A resident-shareholder infrastructure model for new public infrastructure projects, keeping Florida profits in Florida hands
• ✓ A statewide energy and water accountability board with citizen appointments — not political appointments — to protect consumers rather than utilities

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