JUNO
BEACH, Fla., Dec. 30,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Florida
Power & Light Company today notified the Florida Public
Service Commission (PSC) that it plans to file a formal request to
set new rates once its current base rate agreement concludes at the
end of 2025.
The plan, covering 2026 through 2029, would enable FPL to
continue to diversify the company's electricity generation mix,
protecting customers from fuel price volatility, and continue to
deliver some of the country's most reliable electricity to its 6
million customers, all while keeping bills as low as possible.
Bill adjustments: FPL estimates that its proposal,
along with projections for fuel and other costs, would increase a
typical residential customer bill by an average annual rate of
approximately 2.5% from January 2025
through 2029. Importantly, even with the proposed rate adjustment,
FPL bills would remain well below the national average and below
many other Florida electric utilities. Customers will be able to
calculate potential adjustments to their bill after FPL files its
formal plan.
What's next: The customary process for setting new base
rates takes about a year. FPL will submit a detailed four-year
rate plan as early as February to the PSC, beginning an extensive
public review process that includes numerous opportunities for
input from customers prior to a decision by state regulators.
How we got here: FPL's current four-year rate plan
concludes at the end of 2025. It was agreed to by the state's
consumer advocate and numerous environmental, business and customer
groups and was unanimously approved by the PSC in 2021.
A word from FPL President and CEO Armando Pimentel: "FPL has a proven track
record of delivering value for our customers – including diverse
energy sources, high reliability and low bills. While we know there
is never a good time to request a rate increase, we need to
continue to make smart investments in the grid and in new
generation resources so we can continue to deliver reliable
electricity, enhance resiliency and diversify our generation mix to
power our fast-growing state. That is our never-ending commitment
to our customers and that's what this balanced plan does."
Key priorities: Among the ways FPL's proposed rate plan
would benefit customers:
- Delivering reliable service: FPL's plan supports
continued investments in the critical infrastructure and
technologies that helped make FPL's distribution service
reliability 59% better than the national average and the best among
major utilities in Florida. FPL's
technology investments have benefitted customers, with smart-grid
devices helping speed restoration and avoid 1.8 million customer
outages in 2023 alone. Smart-grid technology helped avoid 1.4
million outages during storms in the last three hurricane
seasons.
- Diversifying the ways FPL generates electricity: FPL's
plan continues investments in low-cost solar and battery storage
technology to complement its existing power plant fleet, which
includes one of the nation's largest natural gas fleets and safe,
reliable nuclear power. Continuing to diversify the power
generation fleet helps protect FPL customers from fuel price
volatility.
- Keeping bills as low as possible: FPL continuously
leverages the latest technology and relentlessly drives down costs
to improve efficiency. Modernizing FPL's power plant fleet has
saved customers billions of dollars in fuel costs and investing in
solar has saved customers more than $890
million in fuel FPL did not have to purchase. FPL's non-fuel
operations and maintenance costs per customer are nearly 26% lower
than they were a decade ago, are the lowest among peer utilities
and save customers about $2.9 billion
per year compared to an average-performing utility – or more than
$24 per month on a typical 1,000-kWh
residential customer bill.
New infrastructure for growth: FPL has added about
275,000 customer accounts since 2021 and expects to add about
330,000 more through the end of 2029, which will require
significant new generating capacity and distribution infrastructure
to meet demand in one of America's fastest-growing states.
High reliability, best-in-class resiliency and low
bills: No other utility in the U.S. provides a better
combination of reliability, resiliency and low bills than FPL. The
proposed four-year rate plan will help FPL continue providing
excellent service for customers every single day.
Context: FPL works hard to diversify its supply
chain and control costs for customers. Still, FPL is not immune to
inflation. For example, since FPL last filed to adjust base rates
in 2021, the cost of labor has increased nearly 11%, wires and
cables 20%, utility poles 49% and transformers 101%.
Florida Power and Light
Company
As America's largest electric utility, Florida Power & Light Company serves more
customers and sells more power than any other utility, providing
clean, affordable, reliable electricity to approximately 6 million
accounts, or more than 12 million people. FPL operates
one of the most fuel efficient and cleanest power generation fleets
in the U.S and in 2022 won the
ReliabilityOne® National Reliability Award for the
seventh time in the last ten years. The company was also recognized
by Escalent in 2022 as one of the most trusted U.S. electric
utilities for the ninth consecutive year. FPL is a subsidiary of
Juno Beach, Florida-based NextEra
Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NEE), a clean energy company widely recognized
for its efforts in sustainability, corporate responsibility, ethics
and compliance, and diversity. NextEra Energy is also the parent
company of NextEra Energy Resources, LLC, which, together with its
affiliated entities, is the world's largest generator of renewable
energy from the wind and sun and a world leader in battery storage.
For more information about NextEra Energy companies, visit these
websites:
www.NextEraEnergy.com, www.FPL.com, www.NextEraEnergyResources.com.
View original content to download
multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/fpl-to-seek-new-rate-plan-to-power-growing-state-with-unmatched-combination-of-high-reliability-and-low-bills-302340170.html
SOURCE Florida Power & Light
Company