Understanding the Franchise Fee

In Florida, governments have the authority to impose a franchise fee as a means to collect additional operational funds. The franchise agreement grants a utility the right to use rights-of-way for facilities such as poles and wires, and a fee is assessed to all customers in the impacted areas receiving service from the utility.

WFEC identifies all taxes and governmental fees separately on the electric bill. All franchise fees collected by WFEC are remitted to the governmental body, and no funds are retained by WFEC.

WFEC works hard to manage the costs that are under its control, maintain the electric system, improve processes and create efficiencies so that electric rates will remain competitive.