Electric-rate hikes are coming for 2009

Maybe not as bad as first projected

By Pat Hatfield
BEACON STAFF WRITER

posted Oct 17, 2008 - 7:06:53pm

Progress Energy Florida announced some good news for its customers Oct. 13. The company filed a revision to its 2009 rate request, meaning a residential customer's bill will drop $7.21 per 1,000 kilowatt-hours from the original request.

"The change is due to the drop in natural gas and oil prices and Progress Energy's proactive fuel cost-management strategies," a corporate press release stated.

Rates are still going up, however — the monthly bill for 1,000 kilowatt-hours will increase $27.29, from the current charge of $110.59 to $137.88 in January, a 25-percent increase — if approved by the Public Service Commission. The original request would have brought rates up by 31 percent.

Of the $27.29 increase, $11.42 will go toward new nuclear-plant construction in Levy County, and $2.50 will go toward environmental projects, including the installation of the latest clean-air technology at the company’s coal-fired power plants.

Actual monthly bills will depend on the number of kilowatt-hours used.

Meanwhile, Florida Power & Light Co. (FPL) brags its rates will be the lowest.

FPL spokeswoman Heather Kirkendall said, "For a typical 1,000 kilowatt-hour customer bill, the January bill would be $8.29 more than the December 2008 bill."

At $119.41, a 9-percent increase, the 2009 bill would be among the lowest of electric utilities in Florida.

That $8.29 increase includes a pass-through fuel charge of $3.92, Kirkendall said. That money will go toward increasing the capacity of Turkey Point and St. Lucie nuclear plants by 400 megawatts, reducing reliance on fossil fuels. Three new solar-power facilities will generate up to 100 megawatts of environmentally friendly electric power, also.

On Oct. 4, the Public Service Commission approved recovery or pass-through costs for new nuclear plants and upgrades to current nuclear plants for both power companies. More rate reviews are expected in November.

— pat@beacononlinenews.com

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