DORAL, Fla. — The future of Miami-Dade County’s incinerator is still up in the air.

Commissioners voted Tuesday to delay the issue, as big questions remained about cost, location and who would build it.

Miami-Dade County commissioners heard from two consortia pitching their visions for a new waste-to-energy facility on Tuesday.

One proposal is led by Florida Power & Light. FPL currently does not have a waste-to-energy facility in its portfolio.

An FPL representative called the proposal “a very unique opportunity” for the company.

FPL officials said the company has secured a site near the Broward County border at U.S. 27, at the crossroads of Northwest 137th Avenue and 178th Street.

FPL presentation:

“It is over a half mile from the nearest residential (area), located in a heavily industrialized region,” an FPL representative said.

The second proposal came from Spain-based FCC Group’s FCC Environmental Services, which Pinellas County selected in October to operate and maintain its waste-to-energy facility.

“A material recovery facility specifically for recyclables and a composting facility for organic,” an FCC representative said. “This is not an industrial site; it is a landmark in environmental innovation. There will also be immersive VR education programming and hands-on exhibits that show how waste becomes energy and how recycling protects our environment.”

FCC presentation:

With both companies proposing different funding models and commissioners having not yet selected a site, cost quickly became a major concern.

“You are looking for the impact to ratepayers?” an FPL representative asked.

“Yes, it is a ratepayer system. We need to know the impact this is going to have on the ratepayer. I would like to see the figures,” Commissioner Raquel Regalado said.

“This is the largest amount I have seen, golly, in a long time,” Commissioner Juan Carlos Bermudez said. “My concern is what is it going to cost the resident ratepayer?”

“I kept looking at the rate sheet, which scared me to be perfectly honest with you,” Commissioner Vicki Lopez said. “I saw 25% increases in these rates and I said, at a time when we know how unaffordable everything is, I honestly said, can I make a decision just based on that? The ratepayer is the bottom line for me.”

In November, state regulators approved the biggest FPL rate hike in history. The first hike — about $2.50 a month — takes effect in January. By 2029, customers are expected to pay roughly $8 more per month.

An FPL spokesperson told Local 10 News in a statement, in part, “We are excited to bring FPL’s unmatched experience developing and operating innovative projects to the proposed Waste to Energy facility, so we can help address the county’s waste management challenges, deliver reliable service to residents and keep bills as low as possible.”

Several commissioners said they need more detailed data to understand the impact of the cost to ratepayers.

“Both proposals had a lot of unknowns on costs,” said Roy Coley, Miami-Dade County’s chief utilities and regulatory services officer. “Both proposals came to the county as these are initial costs, these are preliminary costs, these are indicative costs, but all the final costs will have to be worked out before we have a true, exact cost.”

Asked whether it surprised him that there is still not a clear sense of the cost for either proposal, Bermudez said, “Absolutely. My pet peeve is trying to get real numbers. What is it going to cost our residents? My obligation to residents is to get the full information — short, mid and long-term — because our decisions impact our kids, our grandkids. And yes, we need to make a decision, but we need information to make that decision.”

Commissioners voted to hold a related workshop “where we bring both proposers together and discuss whether there is a better value to the county if they did something together versus continuing on competitive tracks,” Coley said.

“(The commissioners) very much like different components of both of our proposers’ specifications, so they have asked for the two proposers to come together and discuss if there is an opportunity to join them together and get an even better project,” he said.

Bermudez opined, “To get two proposals four days before with thousands of pages? You know, I don’t know about you, but even if I took a speed reading class, I would still need a little more time than that.”

“Yes, we have to make a series of decisions, but we need to make those decisions with numbers,” Regalado said. “That is why I think the workshop is a great opportunity to drill down on that.”

The item is expected to come back before the commission for a vote in late January.

Meanwhile, critics of incineration, who came to County Hall to bear witness to the discussion item, expressed frustration that the county is still considering an incinerator at all.

“We are here to make sure they know we are against this,” said Sebastian Caicedo with the group Florida Rising.

“I am a little disappointed that we are back at this conversation,” Caicedo added. “Incineration is the worst way to handle waste. This will dictate the environmental policies for the county over the next 40 to 60 years, so the commission has a huge responsibility. There are other cities in the country that have been able to manage their waste without incineration.”

The commission has yet to select a site for a new incinerator.

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