Florida Power & Light asks for rate reduction starting in July. How it affects your bill.
Florida Power & Light is asking state regulators for a third time this year to reduce its proposed gas costs that are ultimately passed onto customers.
The Juno Beach-based utility wants to reduce these costs by $256 million, which translates to monthly bill savings of about $4 for a customer that uses 1,000 kilowatts of energy starting in July.
Still, electricity costs for most FPL customers who use this amount of energy are up $10 from January. For former Gulf Power customers in northwest Florida, the savings amount to about $1 since the start of the year.
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More: FPL bills to decrease marginally through 2023 — but costs are still up this year
At the end of each year, electric utilities in Florida estimate how much they intend to spend on a variety of costs such as storm recovery and natural gas. If new estimates ever go 10% above or below that initial prediction, utilities can file what’s called a “mid-course correction.”
Regulators with the Florida Public Service Commission have already approved a $1.4 billion reduction in expected fuel costs for FPL.
Electric costs for FPL customers wee on an upward trend through April, primarily because of restoration costs after Hurricanes Ian and Nicole, and fuel costs were higher than anticipated in 2022.
If approved, a FPL customer outside of northwest Florida who currently pays $139.95 for 1,000 kilowatt hours of energy would be charged $136. A customer in northwest Florida who pays $158.86 for that same amount of energy would be charged $154.91.
Hannah Morse covers consumer issues for The Palm Beach Post. Drop a line at hmorse@pbpost.com, call 561-820-4833 or follow her on Twitter @mannahhorse.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Florida Power & Light asks for rate reduction reducing customers' bills
