Get Ready For Higher Electric Bills, Regulators Sign Off On FPL Rate Increases

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TALLAHASSEE (CBSMiami/NSF) – State inferior regulators Tuesday approved a bid of base-rate increases for Florida Power & Light that volition effect successful higher monthly bills for customers successful January.

Despite opponents’ arguments that residential and tiny concern customers volition extremity up subsidizing costs for immoderate larger customers, the Public Service Commission unanimously supported a four-year complaint settlement, which calls for a $692 cardinal summation successful basal rates successful January and different summation of $560 cardinal successful 2023. Additional increases are planned successful 2024 and 2025 to wage for star projects.

Commission Chairman Gary Clark noted receiving much than 1,100 emails from consumers astir the connection and indicated helium had concerns astir ratepayers subsidizing FPL’s star enlargement and a electric-vehicle charging presumption program. But, Clark said helium understands the request for cleanable vigor investments and pointed to different benefits of the settlement, specified arsenic predictability successful rates.

“There are things wrong that predictability that I deliberation springiness homeowners, springiness businesses immoderate assurity going into the future, that they person a unchangeable complaint climate, they tin bash their budgeting accordingly,” Clark said. “I deliberation that is simply a precise positive, precise affirmative thing.”

Commissioners besides added a request for yearly reports connected the company’s enlargement of infrastructure for electrical vehicles.

FPL reached the complaint colony successful August with the authorities Office of Public Counsel, which represents consumers; the Florida Retail Federation; the Florida Industrial Power Users Group; and the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy. Three different parties aboriginal signed on.

The complaint program incorporates the merger of FPL and Northwest Florida’s Gulf Power. That merger formally took effect Jan. 1, but it came with issues specified arsenic the utilities having wide antithetic rates.

In a prepared statement, FPL President and CEO Eric Silagy said the woody benefits each customers by keeping “bills low” portion “accelerating investments successful cleanable energy.”

“Florida is simply a rapidly increasing authorities connected the beforehand lines of clime change, and our customers merit bold, decisive, semipermanent actions arsenic we proceed gathering a much resilient and sustainable vigor aboriginal each of america tin beryllium on, including aboriginal generations,” Silagy said successful the statement.

For customers extracurricular of Northwest Florida who usage 1,000 kilowatt hours of energy a month, bills are expected to spell from the existent $101.70 to $113.85 successful January. Those bills would summation to $115.52 successful 2023, $116.05 successful 2024, and $117.02 successful 2025. In summation to basal rates, the totals see costs for specified things arsenic earthy state for powerfulness plants.

The program uses what is described arsenic a “transition rider” to instrumentality into relationship the substantially antithetic rates that FPL and Gulf person charged. The effect volition permission Northwest Florida customers paying much than FPL customers successful different areas.

Under the plan, Gulf residential customers who usage 1,000 kilowatt hours a period volition spot their bills spell from the existent $129.24 to $137.49 successful January. They past would spot the bills alteration to $134.44 successful 2023, $130.25 successful 2024 and $126.47 successful 2025.

FPL filed a base-rate connection successful March and past negotiated the settlement, which trimmed the archetypal connection by astir $428 million. The settlement, successful part, reduced a targeted instrumentality connected equity — a intimately watched measurement of profitability — from 11.5 percent to 10.6 percent.

“I judge that each of the parties are to beryllium commended for the outstanding occupation that you did, negotiating connected behalf of the folks that you represented,” Clark said. “It’s beauteous evident immoderate of you did a small amended occupation than others.”

But the colony was opposed by Floridians Against Increased Rates, the League of United Latin American Citizens of Florida, the Environmental Confederation of Southwest Florida and Florida Rising, which person members who are residential customers of FPL.

Those groups argued, successful part, that the program volition necessitate residential and tiny concern customers to subsidize the rates of ample commercialized and concern customers.

“To enactment it succinctly, a colony that includes truthful overmuch wasteful spending to treble down connected fossil fuels, that transfers truthful overmuch wealthiness from residential customers to commercialized and concern customers, and that virtually leaves residential customers worse disconnected than successful FPL’s archetypal proposal, cannot beryllium successful the nationalist interest,” attorneys for the League of United Latin American Citizens, the Environmental Confederation of Southwest Florida and Florida Rising wrote successful an Oct. 11 brief. “This ‘settlement’ gives FPL everything they privation — and more.”

The statement addresses a bid of solar-energy issues, which FPL said volition enactment the improvement of 16 cardinal star panels astatine much than 50 sites crossed Florida. FPL has been operating nether a base-rate colony that took effect successful January 2017 and volition extremity successful December.

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(©2021 CBS Local Media. All rights reserved. This worldly whitethorn not beryllium published, broadcast, rewritten, oregon redistributed. The News Service of Florida’s Jim Turner contributed to this report.)

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